Echoes in Time
by AllWhacked
Summary: It is the end of the Nanban Mirror episode and instead of returning back to Nerima with the gang, Ranma is left behind in the past. (X-Over with Tenchi Muyo, Highlander, Fist of the North Star, Ninja Scroll, and more)
1. Ch 00 Intro Prologue

Echoes in Time  
  
Intro Summary & Prologue (v1.03, 04/29/03)  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,  
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz  
Communications (USA). All other characters and trademarks to appear  
belong to their respective owners. Note that this work of fiction is  
for free entertainment purposes only. No compensation has been or will  
be received.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Acknowledgements ---  
  
My writing was inspired by the works of: Shade's Private Bet #10,  
various works by Greg Sharp and Jared Ornstead, Jeffery "One-Shot" Wong,  
and Hung Nguyen. This particular fic was dreamt up after reading Jared  
Ornstead's, Mirror's Multiplied and thinking of what would happen if-  
-after using the Nanban Mirror to travel back to China--Ranma was left  
behind.  
  
--- Note to the Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic that will crossover and  
fuse elements from different anime, movie and book genres. Readers  
should note that this will NOT be a Ranma and Akane match up. Consider  
yourself warned.  
  
--- Summary ---  
  
The story takes place at the end of the Nanban Mirror episode (anime  
only), in which Happossai, Cologne, Ranma, Shampoo, Akane, Genma and  
Soun are magically transported back to Cologne's ancestral village  
(approximately 300 years in the past, though I'm going to use 400 to  
match up with historical events that I want Ranma to be apart of). In  
the anime, it is revealed that when Happossai went to China to train  
(and eventually develop Anything Goes Martial Arts), he visits Cologne's  
ancestral village. There the two meet and it is later revealed that the  
young-Happossai has feelings for the young-Cologne and vice versa,  
however neither knows that the other has those same feelings.  
  
When Akane and Shampoo learn of this, they take it upon themselves to  
play matchmaker and come up with the plan to each write notes to the  
lovebirds--a note written in Chinese to Cologne and another note written  
in Japanese to Happossai--inviting the other to meet at a  
seclude/romantic lake nearby. The young-Cologne immediately sees  
through this ruse (realizing that Happossai does not know how to write  
Chinese) and decides not to go to the lake since the letter is not  
sincerely from her beloved "Happy."  
  
In contrast, the young-Happossai does not see through the plot right  
away, but before he can go to meet his beloved the old-Happossai ties  
him up and makes for the lake. In any case, the young-Happossai  
eventually escapes and attempts to make his way towards the lake, but  
through this process draws upon the realization that, like Cologne, his  
note could not have been written by his love since she didn't know how  
to write in Japanese. By this time, Happossai rushes off to Cologne's  
house where he sees her and Ranma at the dinner table.  
  
Due to misunderstandings, Happossai thinks that Ranma is making moves on  
his woman and violence ensues. Ranma is initially able to beat up on  
Happossai, but Cologne intervenes and the two (Happossai and Cologne)  
realize they love each other and the two run up to hug one another.  
However, before this romantic embrace could occur, Happossai's true  
nature surfaces and he latches himself to the bosom of another female  
villager. This pisses the young-Cologne off and leads to Happossai  
being driven out of town, but not before he can make off with valuable  
items from the village (ie. the Nanban Mirror).  
  
At this point, the story diverges from canon where instead of being sent  
back to the present, Ranma Saotome is left stranded four hundred years  
in the past. Now he is stuck in the middle of Imperial China with  
little knowledge of the language, culture, or people. And with no  
friends or family to call upon, however will he hope to survive? To  
find out, read on.  
  
--- Prologue: The Boy Who Cried Tomboy ---  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- Start ---  
  
*** Late 16th Century - Joketsuzoku, China ***  
  
"I can't believe you, you pervert! I leave you alone for only thirty  
minutes and you're already flirting with another girl. And with Cologne  
of all people, that's just damn disgusting."  
  
"Akane, you know it's not like that," spoke the girl's fiancé. "I  
wasn't flirting with nobody. The runt just saw us together and jumped  
to conclusions is all. You can't blame me for that!"  
  
"I can't blame you!?" she replied in retort. "Do you think I'm blind or  
something? You think I'm an idiot like you? I saw everything. You  
were flirting with Cologne. Happossai even caught you two." Akane  
Tendo shivered at the thought. "That's so damn disgusting!"  
  
Akane's fiancé gave her a harsh glare. Ranma Saotome hated being called  
an idiot; he hated it even more when Akane called him a pervert. But  
what really got his blood boiling was when his fiancée tried to falsely  
accuse him of something, whether it was flirting with other girls or for  
picking on Ryoga.  
  
His knuckles turned sheer white with clenched anger. 'Blind!? Blind  
she says.' He couldn't help but think of the irony in Akane's words.  
'She's either blind or a god damn liar!' he vehemently thought.  
  
He turned his head away from her and eyed in the distance the fading  
form of the young-Happossai. The runt was being chased out of town by a  
troupe of angry female villagers and at its lead Ranma could see the  
faint outlines of the young-Cologne. For a brief moment the time  
traveling martial artist actually pitied the Old Freak. He then shook  
his head, seeing first hand the damage caused by his two fiancées as  
they tried to play cupid.  
  
'Feh!' he thought. 'If it was meant to be, then the Old Ghoul and the  
Freak would have gotten together already... Stupid girls, what the hell  
were they thinking? Did they want to create some sort of time paradox  
or something?'  
  
He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel an impending migraine  
coming. He took a deep breath. He was getting over excited and right  
now, if he wanted to avoid a fight with Akane, he needed to keep his  
cool. Ranma then began to recite a calming mantra to clear his mind.  
  
'Serenity now, serenity now...'  
  
He closed his eyes as he tried to imagine his happy place. A goofy  
smirk played across his lips as he pictured his fiancée now smiling at  
him, dressed simply in a yellow summer dress with a matching hat and in  
her short black hair, a white colored orchid. The girl in his mind  
stood there for a brief moment and gave him a smile and a wink--she was  
absolutely beautiful.  
  
The image quickly faded though when he heard Akane snap at him with a  
question.  
  
"Are you even listening to me!?" she fumed. Akane looked to Ranma and  
saw his blank stare, then saw him briefly smile as she questioned him  
about what he had been doing with Cologne. She frowned ever so slightly  
and then scowled as she took Ranma's smile as admittance to his accused  
acts of infidelity.  
  
"You pervert! You WERE flirting with her weren't you?!"  
  
Ranma looked a little stunned for a moment, but upon seeing Akane's  
murderous glare he returned the look with the same intensity and  
responded with a hiss. "Would you just shut up you THICKHEADED-UNCUTE-  
TOMBOY! I was just think'in of something important and now--"  
  
*POW!*  
  
The punch was thrown without warning and caught Ranma off guard,  
knocking him up and back a few feet. With stars in his eyes he vaguely  
heard Happossai speak.  
  
*Sniff*  
  
"I just want to go back home," cried the old man.  
  
Happossai had just watched his younger self blow his relationship with  
Cologne and get driven out of town. It was a depressing sight and so  
without checking to see if everyone was ready, a tear had already  
escaped to activate the mirror's magic. There was a blinding flash and  
Ranma looked up. Where his family and friends once stood, they in an  
instant were gone.  
  
"Ah fuck!" murmured Ranma. He in two simple little words summed up his  
current situation perfectly.  
  
--- End Prologue --- 


	2. Ch 01 The Return of the Fiance

Echoes in Time (v1.06 Revision, 04/29/03)  
  
Chapter 1: The Return of the Fiancé  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,  
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz  
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima  
Masaki. All other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by  
their respective owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free  
entertainment purposes only. No compensation has been or will be  
received.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Note to the Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story  
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds  
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning  
home.  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---  
  
*** Present Day - Nerima, Japan ***  
  
"Ranma, you idiot!" shouted Akane. The girl's eyes were clenched tight  
and her head was tilted to the ground. At her side was her raised fist,  
cocked as if having thrown a blind uppercut.  
  
An odd silence then ensued as Akane simply stood there and waited.  
  
'One.. Two.. Three..' she counted. 'Why hadn't he landed by now?'  
  
Opening her eyes, she inspected her surroundings. There was an instant  
glint of realization that something was terribly wrong with this  
picture. Before her was paved asphalt and what looked like the front  
gates of her family's dojo. She immediately began to scan her  
surroundings, eyeing each member of the group as she took in their face,  
image, or form.  
  
'Mr. Saotome and Dad, check. Cologne and Happossai, check. Shampoo and  
Ran--' A lump began to form in the back of her throat.  
  
"Oh God?" she squeaked. "He's not... he's still back--he's..." A faint  
cracking in her voice made plain her fear, as feelings of guilt and  
dread passed over her. Soon her mind began to work itself into a  
flurry--hoping and praying that somehow there was a way to fix all this.  
Yet, no immediate answer came and Akane cursed herself for her limited  
imagination.  
'Damnit why can't I think of anything?' she thought. 'I should be able  
to do this! So think Akane, think!'  
  
But just as before, no semblance of a plan or idea formed. Nothing  
seemed to come to mind--not until she heard two muffled voices from  
behind.  
  
"Give me back my mirror!" demanded Cologne.  
  
"No, the mirror is mine!" cried back Happossai.  
  
'Wait a second,' Akane thought. 'Why didn't I think of this before?  
All I have to do is get the mirror from those two and then I can use it  
to get Ranma back!'  
  
The thought of it quickly lifted Akane's spirits. With the mirror, she  
could use it to travel back in time and rescue Ranma.  
  
'Plus,' her minded added. 'I'll get to gloat to that pervert that I was  
the one to rescue him.' A malevolent smile broke out across her face.  
'I can't wait to see the look on that jerk's face when I do.'  
  
An image immediately popped up. In her mind a super deformed(SD)-Akane  
stood proud and tall while a SD-Ranma bowed his head low--praising Akane  
for the rescue, for her great martial arts ability, for her cooking and  
a whole host of other unrelated qualities that Akane fancied herself at  
being able to do well. Her eyes glazed over at the thought of it. The  
world was looking like a brighter-better place she thought. Too bad  
those feelings were short lived.  
  
There was a loud metallic clank and Akane's heart nearly skipped a beat.  
'The mirror!?' she thought. Akane quickly twirled around to confirm her  
suspicion. At first sight she spotted Cologne and Happossai in an  
undignified disheveled heap. In front of the two ancients, only a few  
feet away laid the mirror; its glassy surface shinning brightly with the  
reflection of the sun's rays.  
  
'Oh thank God!' thought Akane. "It's not broken," she added out loud.  
  
*Snap!* *Crackle!* *Pop!*  
  
"Ah Shit!" She had spoken too soon. The teenager could only watch  
helplessly as her elder sister, Nabiki had seemingly come out of nowhere  
and stepped on top of the mirror--forever breaking its once flawless  
finish. Now, the magical mirror was fractured into a dozen smaller  
shards, its powers to traverse time and space destroyed by the impact of  
the middle Tendo's tennis shoe.  
  
"Gee, what a bunch of useless junk," remarked Nabiki. She was  
completely unaware of what she had just done.  
  
In the ensuing silence harkened by Nabiki's actions, Akane could only  
listen on rather than react. She was now in a detached sense of  
awareness; she no longer paid any further attention to her surroundings,  
as realization came that Ranma was indeed lost to her.  
  
"Oh God! Ranma, I'm so sorry!" she cried. Her voice was barely a  
whisper as tears began to form under her eyes, marring her cheeks with  
twin rivulets.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Shampoo was in a paralyzed state of shock. She had watched the events  
that had transpired, remembering in vivid detail the sight of Ranma  
being sucker punched when he wasn't looking.  
  
'I'm so sorry,' she thought. She should have stopped Akane. She should  
have protected her 'Airen.'  
  
'Beloved, I'm so sorry. I should have stopped her, I should have--'  
  
Shampoo buried that thought; she didn't want to cry. 'Not yet! There's  
still hope,' her mind reasoned.  
  
Turning to her Great-Grandmother. "Great-Grandmother?" Shampoo began.  
  
Cologne looked up from her downed position to catch sight of her great-  
granddaughter's dreary disposition.  
  
"Yes, child?" she answered.  
  
"You fix mirror, yes?" queried the girl. The sudden approach and  
seriousness of Shampoo's tone of voice broke everyone else out of their  
stunned stupor.  
  
"Please say yes," continued Shampoo. "Shampoo need mirror to get  
'Airen' back. Airen still behind in China."  
  
The two fathers immediately picked up on this and reacted accordingly.  
  
"COLOGNE!" gushed Akane's father, Soun Tendo. "YOU MUST FIX THE MIRROR!  
WITH RANMA STUCK IN THE PAST, HOWEVER WILL HE BE ABLE TO MARRY MY SWEET  
AKANE AND CARRY ON THE TWO SCHOOLS OF ANYTHING GOES MARTIAL ARTS?"  
  
The Amazon Matriarch looked un-phased by Soun's loud wailing and  
politely removed herself from the man's grasp. Then in her usual cool-  
calm voice she uttered to everyone's astonishment: "Sorry Soun, but I  
will not help you fix the mirror."  
  
In response, the Tendo patriarch simply acted as if you hadn't heard  
her, though that changed as Cologne's actual words began to sink into  
his thick skull.  
  
"Well, thank you, Cologne. Now when can you fix--what!?" He must not  
have heard her right. "Surely you're joking?"  
  
The wizened Amazon shook her head, causing Soun to make a quick set of  
mental calculations. He deduced that with his options being few if any,  
he had no other choice but to turn to the one man he despised most in  
the world. Facing his perverted master, Soun began to grovel.  
  
"Oh Master, please convince Cologne to fix the mirror. The future of  
the two schools of Anything Goes depends on this. Without Ranma,  
however will he be able to marry my sweet Akane? Waaah!!" he cried.  
  
Genma who was also following the dialogue, quickly discerned the future  
implications of what Ranma's disappearance would have for him. 'This  
isn't good,' he thought. 'Without the boy, however will I be able to  
enjoy an early luxurious retirement at my child's expense? How can I  
rationalize my freeloading off the Dojo without an heir? What will I  
tell Nodoka?' A shiver of fear ran through him at the last thought.  
  
"Damn it Boy!" he then said under his breath. "Why was I cursed with  
such a troublesome son?"  
  
The sound of distant and angry thunder could be heard off in the  
distance. Ignoring the rumblings from the heavens, Genma rushed up to  
his friend's side and kneeled before Happossai, groveling all the while.  
  
"Oh please! Please Master! You must convince Cologne to fix the  
mirror. Without it, Ranma will be lost and the future of the two  
schools (plus my early retirement he silently added) with him. Please  
master!" he pled.  
  
Genma and Soun then began to grovel in unison at their master's feet,  
alternating between cries of desperation and deeply kowtowing.[1]  
  
The Anything Goes Grandmaster looked on at the display in disgust.  
  
"Shameful," he said simply while shaking his head. "Sorry boys, I'm not  
going to help. Skill wise, Ranma might have been a worthy heir but he  
failed to show the proper respect to his true master--me. I'm better  
off without him and the school is better off finding a new heir."  
  
Happossai began to walk away in preparation of groping some women and  
stealing their panties--a favorite pastime that always cheered him up  
when he was in a foul mood. The Anything Goes Grandmaster was about to  
bolt when he heard Nabiki call out to him.  
  
"But Grandpa," began Soun Tendo's middle daughter. "If Ranma is stuck  
in the past, then you'll never be able to see Ranma-chan again."  
  
The mention of never seeing Ranma's girl-half caused an immediate  
turnaround in the Happossai's behavior.  
  
"Oh Ranma-chan!" lamented the old man. There were crocodile tears below  
his eyes lids as he raised his small fists to the sky. "Heaven!? How  
can you do this to a sweet innocent old man? To deny him one last  
chance to fondle those sweet and pert breasts. To rest my head one last  
time in her amble bosom." Sniffling, "I never even got a chance to get  
her to try on one of my brassieres!"  
  
An exaggerated wail went forth that made Soun's current fit of crying  
pale in comparison. Turning his attention away from the heavens and  
then towards Cologne, the old man continued.  
  
"Cologne-chan," he started saying sweetly. "Surely you can fix the  
mirror?"  
  
*Thwack*  
  
Happossai was rewarded with a fast smack to the head from Cologne's  
gnarled staff. The old man didn't even have time to raise a defense as  
he was knocked through the Tendo Compound's wall, creating another hole  
beside the one that had been created earlier in the day before their  
departure to the past. Soun just looked on at this and cried some more.  
  
"Waaah! Why can't you old people learn to get along? Why do they have  
to destroy my property!?" he bellowed.  
  
Genma was wise enough not to comment while Shampoo looked at her great  
grandmother with sad eyes. Never had Cologne ever failed her, never had  
she flat out denied a request--especially one of such great importance.  
  
'But Great-Grandmother is wise and has her reasons,' the purple haired  
girl thought. And so, while all eyes were fixed on Cologne, it was  
Kasumi who was returning from grocery shopping that broke the tension.  
  
"Oh my! Hello, everyone. Would you care to come in and have some tea?  
If you're waiting for Ranma, I'm sure he's inside or will be returning  
shortly." No one dared contradict the eldest Tendo daughter; no one  
wishing to state that Ranma was not coming back, that he was stuck in  
the past and had probably been dead for some time now.  
  
*** Inside the Tendo Living Room ***  
  
Everyone was sipping his or her tea as Nabiki took charge of trying to  
deduce what exactly had gone on. She first began by questioning the  
girls and Nabiki noted to herself that it was odd that Cologne did not  
take charge of the situation. Normally, whenever events involved Ranma,  
she was the first one to start issuing orders.  
  
Thinking this odd, the middle Tendo began to ponder. How was this  
situation any different from all the others? Why would Cologne seem so  
disinterested in helping rescue Ranma? Surely something was amidst, but  
what?  
  
Nabiki had barely a moment to go over these questions, before Akane  
exploded in anger. The youngest Tendo was seething from the rather  
bias, though apt, portrayal Shampoo was giving about her and the events  
that led up to Ranma's disappearance.  
  
"How dare you say that about me you Chinese bimbo!?" yelled Akane, she  
nearly frothed at the mouth like a rapid dog. "This is NOT my fault.  
That idiot got what was coming to him. If he wasn't acting so high and  
mighty and trying to get all perverted with.. with that slu--"  
  
Akane halted as her eyes locked onto Cologne's. Everyone but Shampoo  
and Cologne gasped at the slight implication of Ranma and Cologne  
together and in that way.  
  
A mental "Eww" resounded through their minds despite knowing better.  
Cologne and Shampoo however narrowed their eyes as if daring Akane to  
continue her current trend of slander--one slip of the tongue and Akane  
would lose it was what their eyes conveyed.  
  
During this silence there was a slight knock at the door. Being the  
caretaker of the house, it was Kasumi who got up to greet the visitor.  
So, with Kasumi gone, Soun was snapped out of his mental stupor.  
Watching the byplay between Akane and the Amazons, he was wise enough to  
pick up on their hidden threat, prompting him to scold his youngest  
child for her behavior.  
  
"Akane!" he all but shouted. "You will apologize to Cologne this  
instant."  
  
Akane just stared at her father in disbelief. No way was she going to  
back down; she wasn't going to get ganged up on again. Not like the  
time when her sisters betrayed her that fateful night and forced this  
whole engagement nonsense onto her.  
  
"No! I WILL NOT apologize," Akane retorted. "Ranma is a cheating jerk  
and those Amazons are all the same--just a bunch of cheap bimbos trying  
to steal someone else's man. And Ranma is no different; not only is he  
a jerk, but he is a perverted freak too. He turns into a girl and he  
was trying to get all perverted with that young Cologne. There is no  
way I'm going to marry that... that PERVERT! He can just dry up and die  
for all I care. I don't even know why we're wasting time trying to  
rescue him. Even Cologne said she wasn't going to help fix the mirror."  
  
Akane was all out of breath as she said this--her face flush with anger  
and lack of oxygen. She knew that she didn't really feel that way, that  
Ranma wasn't really acting perverted. But she was not about to admit  
fault--to admit that she was the source for all this trouble.  
  
'It's always been that jerk's fault,' she reasoned. Though her  
conscience replied to the contrary.  
  
'True, he was a jerk, but he was a nice jerk. You're just upset that  
everyone is trying to push you two together. You don't want to admit  
that you care for him so you need to demonize him,' her conscience  
added. Akane thought over this but for once her ego failed to retort  
back with a reply.  
  
'That's right,' Akane mentally replied. 'I can't admit that I care for  
him, not now...the moment I do that, dad and Uncle Genma would try to  
get us married and I'm just not ready for that.' Akane wanted to cry,  
to let out her feelings but she knew she needed to be strong. She could  
continue on with this act with impunity, 'no way was Cologne not going  
to rescue Ranma; she needs him to marry Shampoo. I have nothing to  
worry about, right?'  
  
++++++++++  
  
Everyone was coming down from Akane's harsh statement when they took  
notice of the surprised expression on Kasumi's face. They then took  
notice of the two people following close behind her. One was an exotic  
looking woman in her early twenties; she was about 5'6" with long cyan  
colored hair that seemed to defy gravity. She was wearing a  
conservative one-piece dress--the short hem of the skirt showing off her  
long firm legs, while the rest of the dress hugged her hips and ample  
frame in all the right ways. She had this air about her that left the  
two fathers and Happossai drooling at their new female guest--causing  
the other woman in the room to frown in disapproval.  
  
While eyes were on the woman, they soon shifted to the man standing  
behind her. He was a tall man by Japanese standards, a little over  
5'10" with a muscular build. He looked to be in his mid to early  
twenties, though it was hard to tell since men tended to age better than  
women. He was dressed in a black, tie-less Armani suit and looked  
extremely handsome with his straight black hair tied back in a short  
braided pigtail.  
  
The man flashed the room's occupants all a quick smile before he and his  
companion bowed their heads in greetings. Even the men were impressed  
as they sensed the man's raw power, the way he walked indicated that he  
was a skilled martial artist and his gaze gave them the impression that  
he was not to be taken lightly.  
  
As more and more attention focused from the woman to the man, certain  
things about him seemed to alert them of just who this person was. He  
was taller, older, more mature in looks and demeanor, but to those who  
knew him, they knew that the man standing before them was Ranma Saotome.  
Everyone was about to speak, when the man interrupted by raising his  
hand.  
  
In a calm voice he continued: "Ah, by your expressions I see that you  
all still recognize me... good. And for those of you who are still  
unsure, yes I am indeed Ranma." A warm smile broke out across his face  
as everyone save Happossai and Cologne went bug eyed.  
  
"What? How... how possible?" began Shampoo. She couldn't believe that  
her 'Airen' had returned to her. She was about ready to glomp him when  
she heard the sharp voice of Akane's overtake her.  
  
"You bastard! How dare you cause us to worry about you? Making us  
think you were dead in the past."  
  
The woman accompanying Ranma narrowed her eyes at Akane with a hateful  
expression that seemed to twist her beautiful features into an angry  
scowl. Her fist clenched tightly in a move to strike at Akane, but  
before she could move Ranma placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her  
to look up and see him shake his head. Calming down under his soft  
gaze, she let go of her earlier anger as he came up close and began to  
whisper into her ear.  
  
In a soft voice, Ranma spoke. "Ryoko... Please, let me handle this."  
Ryoko simply gave him an annoyed stare.  
  
While Ranma whispered to his beautiful companion, the other women in the  
room furled their eyes in jealousy--even Kasumi for some odd reason.  
But it was Akane and Shampoo in particular who looked ready to commit  
murder.  
  
"Airen! Who spiky-hair woman? And why no stand next to proper wife,  
Shampoo?"  
  
Ranma smirked. It had been many many years but he still remembered how  
Shampoo was and had anticipated this sort of reaction. He wished that he  
had a camera so he could record her reaction to what he was about to  
say. 'Perhaps Nabiki will have one,' he absently thought. Seeing that  
everyone else was looking at him with the same question in their eyes,  
Ranma coughed to clear his throat and replied.  
  
"Well, to answer your question, Shampoo. This" gesturing to his female  
companion "is Ryoko Hakubi, she" he paused--waiting a second to give it  
some thought, "--is my fiancée." He grinned the last part out, watching  
the play of emotions run across the audience's faces.  
  
There were some initial startled gasps, but no one looked all that  
surprised by his statement. The idea of Ranma having multiple fiancées  
was nothing new to this bunch.  
  
"Secondly," Ranma continued before anyone could interrupt. "As to why  
I'm standing next to her and not to you, well... that's just it. She's  
my fiancée and you're not."  
  
There was dead silence after he said that. Ranma waited, the Tendos and  
Genma waited, even Shampoo waited for her great grandmother to quip back  
with her usual response of Ranma being Shampoo's rightful husband under  
Amazon law. However, this did not happen and attention re-shifted to  
Cologne while she silently sipped at her tea. Seeing that everyone was  
eyeing her, Cologne set her cup down and took on a serious expression.  
In a calm voice, she replied "what?" Everyone except Ranma, Ryoko,  
Happossai and Cologne face faulted. In a quick recovery, it was Nabiki  
who replied.  
  
"What do you mean 'what!?' You always insist that Ranma is Shampoo's  
husband by Amazon law. Why aren't you insisting on it now?"  
  
Heads began to bob in unison to Nabiki's declaration, Shampoo's  
especially, while Cologne looked none too concerned. Instead of  
answering the Tendo girl's questions, she slowly brought the steaming  
cup of tea to her lips then pointed with her chin towards Ranma. All  
eyes shifted back towards him.  
  
"Well, I suppose I am the one who should explain things," Ranma began.  
"But before I do, I suggest everyone sit down for this. It's quite a  
long story." Shampoo as well as Ryoko and Ranma sat down as he prepared  
his thoughts. Taking a sip of tea and complimenting Kasumi on it, the  
tension of waiting snapped when Akane interrupted.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing pervert? Stop flirting with my  
sister." Ryoko looked ready to kill Akane while Kasumi looked red faced  
in embarrassment and perhaps a bit of joy at the implications that she  
was being hit on by an attractive male. "Oh My" indeed.  
  
Unperturbed by Akane's outburst, Ranma continued. "Excuse me, Akane,  
but first off, if you're going to continue interrupting I will have to  
ask you to leave. Secondly, I wasn't flirting with your sister. I was  
merely stating a fact--it's good tea and Kasumi prepared it. Is it not  
proper to compliment the hostess?"  
  
Kasumi cheeks flushed as everyone else's head bobbed in agreement.  
Akane felt shame faced at the truth of the words, but she wasn't going  
to be humiliated--not by Ranma of all people. She was about to retort,  
when Akane's father admonished her for the second time that day.  
  
"Akane! You will respect your fiancé and allow him to finish." Akane  
could only bow her head in frustration. She used to be daddy's little  
girl, but now, ever since Ranma came, her father would go on with "Ranma  
this" or "Ranma that."  
  
"Grrr" she breathed out. 'This is so not fair,' Akane thought. Looking  
at her father, she replied. "Fine! Take his side, see if I care."  
Getting up abruptly, she stomped up to her room and upon entering  
slammed the door shut. Soun apparently went into tears as he babbled  
about his daughter yelling at him. Everyone else just rolled their eyes  
at Akane's childish behavior, or rather Akane and Soun's childish  
behavior. Coughing again, Ranma regained everyone's attention.  
  
"Well then, with that out of the way I guess I should begin with..."  
Everyone neared closer in anticipation as Ranma paused. "Ah I forgot  
what I was being asked." Everyone let out a low groan in  
disappointment, but quickly recovered when Shampoo replied.  
  
"Airen going to explain why great-grandmother say you no longer  
Shampoo's rightful husband."  
  
Snapping his fingers, Ranma replied with "riiight. It totally slipped  
my mind, especially with little Miss 'you know who' and her terror  
tantrum. Honestly, I forgot what a total brat she was. Somebody ought  
to go up there and spank her."  
  
Ranma's little jibe received a hearty laugh from Nabiki, Ryoko, and  
Shampoo while Cologne cackled. Soun wanted to protest, but the look  
Genma gave him said that Ranma was right. Kasumi just frowned as she  
wondered how to correct Akane's behavior.  
  
"Okay, enough with the jokes," continued Ranma as he returned Shampoo's  
gaze. "The reason why I'm not your husband is because... Shampoo, I am  
your father."  
  
Crickets could be heard chirping softly in the backyard as the room went  
silent. No one dared say a word at what had just been said, none  
wanting to admit the possibility that they had heard correctly--that  
Ranma was indeed Shampoo's father. The information didn't seem right  
though, there was no way it could be possible, but then again everyone  
there knew that nothing was impossible when it came to Ranma Saotome.  
  
As the shocked crowd began to acclimate to the sudden news, the first to  
react was Shampoo. The poor girl was in shock. Did her "Airen" say  
that she was his daughter? 'No Way!' she thought. 'This must be a  
mistake, he must be joking,' she reasoned. 'This is all just a joke, a  
cruel, cruel joke. Husband must be upset that I didn't protect him from  
that pervert-girl.'  
  
Shampoo began to chuckle to herself as the room's eyes shifted onto her.  
The young Amazon was lost in thought as her eyes carried a glazed gleam;  
a few sporadic laughs or hiccups would escape her lips before she would  
speak again. Then, as if snapping out of a trance, Shampoo began to  
speak with renewed mirth in her voice.  
  
"Hahaha Airen, you play joke on Shampoo, yes?"  
  
Genma and the Tendos were silently agreeing with Shampoo's assessment-  
-to think otherwise just seemed too ludicrous and/or terrible to be  
true. However, no answer came; instead, Ranma merely furled his brow  
and continued to stare at the Amazon, his gaze stating that this was no  
joke.  
  
However, despite the seriousness in her 'Airen's' gaze, Shampoo would  
not be deterred. 'Don't give up, to do so now is to admit the  
unthinkable,' she thought. With another nervous chuckle, Shampoo  
continued to speak.  
  
"You very funny comedian Airen, but you no should play such joke on  
Amazon wife." Shampoo proceeded to get up and brandish her bomboris, a  
display designed to convey that she meant business--that to contradict  
her now would surely result in pain. But, just as he did before,  
Ranma's gaze never faltered. To all present parties, it seemed that the  
unthinkable had just happened.  
  
Then, without much warning or pretense, Ranma's stoic face turned into a  
friendly smile. It was a sign that was soon followed by a collective  
sigh from the assembled guests, with everyone letting go at once the  
nervous breath they had all been holding. While Shampoo blinked in  
surprise and was then contemplating rewarding herself for those few  
moments of hell by glomping onto her 'Airen,' Ranma surprised everyone  
yet again when he continued to speak.  
  
"Yeah, I was just joking Shampoo. I hope there aren't any hard  
feelings."  
  
The Amazon girl in turn could only shake her head and accept her  
"Airen's" apology; after all, there was plenty of time later to extract  
her reward/punishment she giddily added. As Shampoo and company  
continued to listen, the girl started to lose her earlier gaiety.  
  
"Shampoo," Ranma continued in all seriousness. "I was lying when I said  
I was your father. But on my honor and in all truthfulness, I'm  
actually your Great-Grandfather."  
  
A resounding "What!?" escaped the Tendos and Genma's mouths. 'He did  
not just say that,' was their collective thought. While, everyone else  
was reeling from this second bombshell, Shampoo on the other hand simply  
shut down. Like a marionette with its strings cut, Shampoo's motor  
functions ceased working.  
  
First it was the grip of her hands, slackening just enough to cause her  
bomboris to drop to the ground with a dull thud. Soon following was the  
weakening of Shampoo's knees as she simply fell prostrate on the ground-  
-landing flat on her rear. Ranma, Cologne, and Ryoko looked on with  
calm faces that did not change even when Happossai interrupted.  
  
"Ha! I knew it," he cried as he jabbed an accusing finger at Cologne.  
"You were cheating on me! Oh God! I feel so betrayed. And.. and to  
think, you chose him when you could have had a hunk like me," he cried  
out as he shook his small fists in anger. Small crocodile tears began  
to run down his face as he said this.  
  
Cologne in response could only roll her eyes at the old man's pretense  
while Ranma attempted to hold in his laughter--failing miserably as a  
few chuckles and snorts escaped his lips. Seeing Ranma acting so callus  
in the wake of his supposed pain and misery, Happossai was infuriated.  
  
"You think a suffering old man is something to laugh at!"  
  
"Oh, cut the crap Happossai," Ranma said sternly. "You're not going to  
avoid blame by feigning innocence."  
  
The old man immediately changed his attitude. "Sorry Master," he  
replied half-heartedly.  
  
Genma and Soun balked at this. "Master?" they said in unison.  
  
"That's right," came Ranma's reply. "I'm actually the real Grandmaster  
of Anything Goes."  
  
"But.. but," the two men mumbled.  
  
"Don't even try to think about it boys," said Happossai. "You two pea  
brains wouldn't be able to figure it out so just shut up and let the  
Master speak."  
  
The two men along with the rest of the group were stunned. Their  
combined gaze was all focused on Ranma. With this distraction,  
Happossai who had taken a hurting from Cologne earlier was eyeing the  
room's female inhabitants, looking for a quick recharge.  
  
Under normal circumstances he would have just glomped onto Ranma-chan,  
however those days were numbered and with Akane upstairs and Kasumi too  
sweet of a person to attack, it left only three options. Nabiki he  
briefly contemplated but he knew that the girl would find some devious  
means at getting him back, Shampoo was a good target too since she had  
large breasts and was already unconscious but Cologne would kill him.  
  
And besides, Happossai preferred them conscious because aside from the  
touch of flesh he also got off on the angered reaction that his glomps  
brokered. With his first two options blanked out, that only left Ryoko  
who although Ranma had proclaimed was his fiancée, the old man reasoned  
that perhaps his old friend and master wouldn't mind if he tried to  
sample the goods.  
  
Happossai licked his lips. The two luscious orbs were a tempting sight  
and he knew Ranma couldn't blame him for at least trying. With only a  
warning of "hotcha!" as a cry, the man formerly known as the Grandmaster  
of Anything Goes launched himself face first into Ryoko's amble bosom.  
  
Only mere inches away from his twin targets, he was caught by the scruff  
of his neck and held in a powerful and unwavering iron tight hold.  
  
"Nice try, but I don't think so."  
  
Happossai pouted and for his trouble he received the beating of a  
lifetime.  
  
"You pervert," screamed Ryoko. She instinctively covered her chest with  
her left hand while the other reared back for a powerful slap that  
rendered Happossai unconscious. The subsequent blows that followed  
merely served to further bruise and injure the already comatose victim.  
  
"Don't you dare, ever try that again! No one touches my breasts but MY  
Ranma."  
  
That outcry shocked everyone else even further. Instead of being  
surprised that an elderly man would try to publicly grope a woman, it  
was because everyone knew of Happossai's temptations and habits that  
their attention was shifted to the news that Ranma was touching some  
strange woman's breasts. They all gave Ranma a combined look that asked  
him to explain.  
  
In reply, Ranma only shrugged and gave them a "do you blame me?" kind of  
look.  
  
Although the expression on Ranma's face wasn't meant to broker a direct  
response, the two fathers by that time knew that Ranma touching anyone  
else's breasts aside from those of Akane's meant that the future of  
uniting the two schools was in jeopardy. So ignoring everything that  
had been said in the last few minutes, the first to react to this crisis  
was Genma as he jumped to his feet and proceeded to admonish his son.  
  
"Boy!" he said in a stern tone. "Who is this woman? I know for a fact  
that I did not engage you to her."  
  
Genma was not all that positive that he didn't engage his son to this  
woman, but on the same token he was not about to admit that this was so.  
Though she looked unfamiliar there were fuzzy moments that spanned the  
mid-80s through 90s when it might have happened. It could have occurred  
any number of times; when he was drunk and needed money or when he was  
hungry and he wanted to scam for some food. Luckily for Genma he wisely  
kept all this to himself as he continued to berate his son.  
  
"I thought I taught you better than that. How can you cheat on your  
fiancée with.. with this woman."  
  
Soun quickly stepped in where his friend let off.  
  
"Son," he began as he assumed the 'good cop' role. "How can you betray  
my sweet Akane? I know that boys your age have their urges, but why get  
yourself engaged to some strange girl so you can feel her breasts? You  
already have a fiancée to do that with. If you're concerned about  
Akane's honor then don't be. You now have my full permission to fondle  
her breasts anytime, day or night."  
  
Ranma didn't even have a chance to say, "gee thanks" before Genma  
interrupted. "That's right boy! You now have permission to fondle  
Akane's breasts. So if you know what's good for you, you'll march right  
up there this instant and give them each a good long squeeze."  
  
Ranma was about to retort to that when Kasumi interrupted. "Oh father!"  
she exclaimed. "It really isn't proper for Ranma to be doing that with  
Akane yet. The two should really wait until they're married first."  
That statement seemed to set off light bulbs in the two father's heads  
as she said that.  
  
"That's right, Tendo," proclaimed Genma. "I'll call the minister while  
you--"  
  
Happossai step forward to intervene. "Don't even think about it boys,"  
he said as he picked himself off the floor. He had been knocked out but  
not for long. Despite looking bruised and battered the fear of  
Happossai was still fresh in Genma and Soun's memory. The two men  
cowered and immediately halted their plans.  
  
"Yes, Master," they both cowed.  
  
Ranma then thanked the pervert for getting the two fathers to settle  
down.  
  
"Alright, I know most of you don't know what the hell is going on so if  
you all agree to keep quiet, I'll try to explain things as best I can.  
When I'm done with my tale and you still have questions I'll be happy to  
answer them for you. Is that satisfactory for everyone?"  
  
Ranma saw everyone nod their heads, even the two fathers. So with their  
promise to keep quiet until he was done, he cleared his throat and began  
to spin the yarn of a tale that was his life up till now.  
  
"Okay, it was long ago in a Chinese province far far away..."  
  
--- End of Chapter ---  
  
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to  
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.  
  
Endnotes:  
  
1. Kowtow - It's a Chinese terms and basically, it involves a person to  
kneel on both knees and bow deeply. Then rising up to their feet, then  
kneeling and bowing deeply. Sometimes this process is done numerous  
times and was done to China to show respect to the Emperor and to other  
important ruler types.  
  
Q&A:  
  
Q1. Is Akane acting a little out of character(OOC)?  
  
A1. Well, for starters this is Anime Akane, so she's a bit more  
temperamental. Secondly, she's not as OOC as say having Akane suddenly  
realizing Ranma is the only one for her and then suddenly acting like a  
saint. Then with her new personality change she goes off to declare her  
undying love and just as randomly Ranma does the same. The two then go  
onto live happily ever after while all the other evil-rivals/fiancées  
shrivel up and die. 


	3. Ch 02 Pasts Revealed Ranma's Story

Echoes in Time (v1.05 Revision, 05/01/03)  
  
Chapter 2: Pasts Revealed - Ranma's Story  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,  
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz  
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima  
Masaki. The characters of Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All  
other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by their respective  
owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free entertainment  
purposes only. No compensation has been or will be received.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Note to Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story  
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds  
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning  
home.  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---  
  
*** Late 16th Century, Qinghai Province ***  
  
'Man, she's got a mean uppercut,' thought Ranma as he absently rubbed  
his lower jaw line. It had been nearly an hour since the group had  
disappeared and he was beginning to get a little worried.  
  
"Shouldn't they have come back by now?"  
  
He knew that given the Nanban Mirror's time traveling capabilities, the  
group should have come back to retrieve him the very moment he noticed  
that they were even gone. Yet they hadn't and Ranma was left waiting-  
-waiting in silence as thoughts of what could and must have happened to  
them took form.  
  
On the one side of his brain, he fathomed that perhaps they had simply  
forgotten about him; that they didn't care enough about him to bother  
rescuing. On the other side, he guessed that instead of abandoning him,  
the group probably met some grisly fate. That perhaps the mirror's  
magic had somehow screwed up and now they were in a worst position than  
he was. This last thought didn't appeal to him anymore than the first  
and so Ranma was ever grateful when he heard the crack of distant  
thunder to get his mind off the subject.  
  
'Man, that doesn't look too good.'  
  
He was eyeing the formation of dark cumulus clouds that from within  
their folds, would flash and then sound off a series of loud rumbles a  
few seconds later. At the sight of this, one didn't need to be a  
meteorologist to know that a storm was brewing. And after taking a look  
at where the sun was in the horizon, there was also the realization that  
he had less than another hour before nightfall. He needed to hurry.  
  
Throwing an absent-minded curse to the wind, the temporally challenged  
sixteen year old picked himself off the ground and started jogging  
towards the Amazon village. He began to hasten his steps as he felt the  
light nips of drizzle touch his skin.  
  
*** A Few Minutes Later ***  
  
"You there, halt!"  
  
Ranma stopped at the tail end of a raised pudao(1). He looked puzzled  
for a second. The first time he had entered the village there had not  
been any guards, but this time there were at least two sentries at each  
of the village's four cardinal gates.  
  
He then remembered that during his travels, in some rural parts of Asia,  
small villages would close their walled gates at night--keeping  
strangers and bandits out as well as the villagers in. He supposed that  
the same must be true in this case. The sight of the setting sun  
prompted him to act fast; if the gates closed with him on the outside,  
he'd likely have to face the evening fighting off hunger pangs and a  
night of bitter cold. He shivered at the thought.  
  
"Stranger, state your business here."  
  
Ranma paused. 'What the hell did she just say?' He didn't know the  
local dialect but it didn't really matter, Ranma had a fair guess that  
she probably wanted to know what business an obvious outsider had with  
entering their village so late in the day.  
  
"I would like to speak with Cologne," he began in Japanese.  
  
The two sentries simply stared at him with puzzled looks. They after  
all did not understand Japanese; however, from their experience with  
Happossai they knew enough to understand when Japanese was being spoken.  
  
"Shit, just what we need, another one of those filthy Japs," spoke the  
taller of the two guards. She began to clench her pudao in uneasiness  
as she then cocked her head slightly to her partner. "First we had to  
deal with that thieving Happossai and now another one of these Japs  
shows up at our doorstep. How much do you want to bet that this guy's  
appearance here and Happossai's atrocities aren't just a coincidence?"  
  
The other guard nodded her head in agreement but added her own two  
cents. "I don't know... he might be a filthy Jap but he sure is a cute  
one." She proceeded to bat an eye at a clueless Ranma whom seemed to  
blush under the attention. Giggling at Ranma's modesty, the taller  
guard merely rolled her eyes in disgust at her friend's flirtatious  
behavior.  
  
"Honestly Su Lin, how the hell are we supposed to look intimidating with  
you acting like that?" Su Lin in turn simply ignored her friend's  
admonishments as her eyes began to run across Ranma's form and features.  
Narrowing her eyes a bit, something seemed to click in her mind as she  
realized something.  
  
"You know what Mai Lin? I think I've seen this guy before. He came  
into the village earlier today with an old woman, two girls about our  
age, and two middle-aged men. I remember him fighting with that devil-  
Happossai before we ran the pervert out of the village. That boy was  
with Cologne at the time, perhaps the two know each other." At the  
mention of Cologne's name, Ranma's eyes perked up. He might not have  
understood what the two guards had been saying, but he did catch the  
mention of "Cologne's" name.  
  
"Yes, Cologne," began Ranma in slight eagerness. "Can you please take  
me to Cologne?" The two guards didn't seem to understand Ranma's  
Japanese, but they too caught the repeated use of Cologne's name.  
Putting one and two together, one of the guards went off to retrieve the  
aforementioned girl while the other kept Ranma at bay.  
  
++++++++++  
  
While one of the guards ran off into the village, Ranma began thinking  
to himself. 'Man, what the hell am I going to say to her? I can't tell  
her the truth. It sounds so absurd that I wouldn't believe it myself.  
But... then again, that mirror does belong to Cologne so perhaps she  
knows of its magic and maybe she'll be more understanding than--'  
  
As Ranma thought of some plausible sort of excuse to gain Cologne's  
assistance, the guard and Cologne arrived around the corner. There was  
an immediate pause as Ranma looked at Cologne and Cologne at him.  
Smiling, Ranma was about to introduce himself again when the girl looked  
at him with first surprise on her face that soon contorted into a look  
of anger.  
  
Watching Cologne, Ranma witnessed as the girl's hair seemed to come  
alive and raise straight up when her aura of anger took hold. Ranma had  
only seen this twice before, once back in Nerima and later when he was  
in the village with the young-Cologne. In each instance, Happossai had  
done something to cause her to get extremely upset which was then  
followed up by Cologne beating or trying to beat the shit out of  
Happossai.  
  
Gulping in response to the girl's obvious displeasure towards him, Ranma  
proceeded to back up and away from the gate. From his experience in  
Nerima, the boy knew well enough when to avoid the wrath of a woman  
scorned.  
  
++++++++++  
  
From Cologne's persepective, she only saw red. Here before her was the  
boy that must have been in league with that louse, Happossai.  
  
"You!?" she shouted at him in Japanese. "Die!"  
  
Charging up to him in full battle rage, she leapt up to drive a powerful  
jump sidekick into Ranma's temple. As Cologne sailed through the air,  
it didn't occur to her until a split second later that she had only made  
contact with thin air.  
  
'Shit! Where is that male so I can kill him?' she thought lividly.  
  
Twirling around to the sight of slight movement, she lashed out with a  
powerful punch that to her surprise was caught. Feeling her wrist being  
grabbed then somehow twisted around her back into an uncomfortable arm-  
lock, she realized that she had seriously underestimated her enemy.  
Struggling to break free, she felt her center of balance give way as  
Ranma swept both feet and slammed her face first into the ground.  
  
Positioning himself to take further advantage of Cologne's  
disorientation, Ranma proceeded to twist Cologne's arm and place it in a  
firm wristlock while grinding his heel into her shoulder blade. As  
Cologne struggled somewhat, he applied slight pressure to alert Cologne  
that if she continued to resist, he'd not only break her wrist but also  
pop her shoulder out of its socket.  
  
The entire attack was over in less than five seconds, as Cologne found  
herself helpless before her opponent. 'Great,' she thought  
sarcastically. 'Not only does Happy humiliate me and dishonor my  
family, but I've also just lost to an outsider. Well, at least he's a  
lot cuter than Happy.'  
  
Feeling the slight twinge of pain as Ranma applied pressure to Cologne's  
struggling, she in turn gave up; she knew that at this stage it was  
rather pointless. Her only options were to either resist and receive a  
broken arm, or give up and accept her fate. Twisting her head up  
towards Ranma's direction, she watched in surprise as he looked down at  
her in concern.  
  
"Uh Cologne?" he started to say hesitantly. "I'm sorry that I slammed  
you so hard on the ground. You attacked so fast that I didn't have a  
chance to think before I guess my training took over. Umm.. if you  
promise not to attack me again, I'll let you up. Okay?" Ranma looked a  
bit frightful as he waited for Cologne to answer.  
  
Receiving a meek yes, Ranma smiled as he realized Cologne wouldn't be  
attacking him again. He began to wonder why Cologne had attacked him in  
the first place as he proceeded to help her up. Still in thought, he  
was totally taken by surprise when Cologne snaked her arms around his  
neck and kissed him firmly on the lips.  
  
"Woda ai ni" she said as a slight smile formed on her lips. Ranma could  
only look on bug eyed as he realized that he was a complete and total  
idiot.  
  
'Damn it Saotome! When you are finally rid of your fiancée problems,  
you'd just have to get another one didn't you,' he thought. Rolling up  
his eyes at the sudden realization that he was now engaged or married to  
Cologne, Ranma promptly fainted. Off to the side, Su Lin was visibly  
upset.  
  
"Ah man" she whined. "I was just about to challenge him too." Mai Lin  
could only shake her head at her friend's behavior.  
  
"What are you complaining about Su Lin? Can't you see that those two  
are obviously in love? From what you said, that boy must have been  
fighting Happossai so that little runt would stay away from Cologne.  
Now that this boy has returned, Cologne must have realized that she  
loved him too which is why she challenged him."  
  
Hearing Mai Lin's statement, Su Lin perked up. "I suppose you're right  
Mai Lin, I guess our love wasn't meant to be. You know what, I never  
saw someone defeat Cologne so quickly. She must really want to get that  
boy in the sack to lose to him so easily." Mai Lin only smiled at her  
friend's statement.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. He is a cute one and I don't blame her  
either." The two girls shared a laugh as they watched Cologne get red  
faced from hearing the gossip going on behind her. Looking down at  
Ranma's inert form, Cologne gave a hidden smile. She wouldn't admit it,  
but she was somewhat thrilled at being married to Ranma.  
  
"He sure is cute... and a great fighter too," she said to herself.  
Cologne proceeded to look down at him as she became absorbed with his  
features. So absorbed was she that she failed to feel the slight  
trickles of rain that soon came down in a pour; in that instant,  
Cologne's handsome husband transformed into a blossomy redheaded girl.  
Feeling shocked at the sight, Cologne too began to roll up her eyes and  
promptly fainted; the flood of conflicting emotions that had run through  
her system that day had finally caught up to her.  
  
Behind her, Mai Lin and Su Lin who had witnessed all this were in equal  
amounts of shock, but due to their detachment from the situation, they  
held themselves together well enough to gather up the unconscious forms  
of Ranma and Cologne and bring them to the village healer. It would be  
many hours later before the two woke up again to have things fully  
explained.  
  
*** Nerima Japan, Tendo Living Room ***  
  
"... and that is how Cologne and I got engaged," finished Ranma.  
  
He then took a sip of his tea to quench the dryness in his throat as he  
began to gather more of his thoughts in preparation for explaining the  
next chapter of his life.  
  
Soun and Genma in the meanwhile looked ready to explode at the seams.  
They were on the verge of berating Ranma for having betrayed his  
fiancée, Akane, however a gaze from Nabiki reminded the two that they  
weren't supposed to interrupt.  
  
There was a momentary pause as Ranma began to clear his throat. Once  
done, he continued on with his story.  
  
*** Late 16th Century, Amazon Village ***  
  
*Splash*  
  
"Bleh! What the hell!" sputtered Ranma as he, now turned she, began.  
Her red hair was now dripping wet as the martial artist sat upright to  
stare head on into the gaze of a mean looking, shriveled up old Chinese  
woman.  
  
"Ah! It's Cologne!"  
  
*Smash*  
  
Ranma was promptly bashed in the skull and knocked unconscious.  
Standing next to him was the young-Cologne who looked slightly abashed  
for letting her temper get the better of her.  
  
"Daughter? Was that really necessary?" voiced Perfume, Cologne's  
mother.  
  
"Sorry Mother, but when he looked at Great-Grandmother and then said my  
name... I... I just couldn't help myself. How could he think that I  
looked so.. so?" Cologne eyed her great-grandmamma nervously; she had  
wanted to say 'ugly, old, and decrepit,' but she held her tongue in  
check--she after all, didn't want to insult her favorite great  
grandmother.  
  
Turning her head in shame, Cologne then focused her attention to the  
sleeping redhead. At first glance, the blue haired girl noticed Ranma's  
amble bosom and just to test her curiosity, she poked a finger into one  
of the mounds.  
  
"Aiyah! They're real." Cologne silently kept to herself that Ranma's  
breasts were also larger than her own.  
  
"Great-grandmother, how come my husband turns into a girl?" Cologne had  
an annoyed expression on her face.  
  
"Good question," began the old matriarch. "And it comes with a simple  
answer--Jusenkyo."  
  
Cologne gasped. "You mean... the stories about that place are true? I  
just thought that--"  
  
Lotion simply gestured back to the girl and poured some warm tea over  
Ranma's forehead. In an instant, the once buxom redhead turned from a  
pretty, small petite girl into a taller, handsome raven-haired boy.  
  
"I'm afraid that the boy has been cursed with water from the Spring of  
Drowned Girl."  
  
"Is there a cure for this, grandmother?" voiced Perfume.  
  
"Well, yes there is--"  
  
Ranma immediately bolted upright and turned towards Lotion. "You mean  
there is a cure?"  
  
All three women looked stupefied at Ranma's quick recovery.  
  
'My my, the son-in-law is quite resilient,' thought Perfume and Lotion  
in unison.  
  
"Perhaps there is," continued Lotion from where she was cut off. "But  
before I tell you, perhaps we should introduce ourselves. My great-  
granddaughter told us that your name is Ranma."  
  
Ranma nodded.  
  
"I see, well I am Lotion--village matriarch. This here is my  
granddaughter, Perfume and next to her is her daughter, Cologne whom  
you've already met."  
  
Ranma nodded again, remembering in detail how she had attacked him and  
how he was forced to defeat her. 'And now marry her,' he silently  
added.  
  
"So Ranma," began Lotion as she interrupted his train of thought. "Tell  
us a little about yourself. I do after all like to know something about  
my future son-in-law."  
  
"Now wait here just a minute, granny, I ain't marrying nobody."  
  
Cologne looked a bit hurt by Ranma's proclamation while the two older  
women gave him an amused glance.  
  
"Oh?" exclaimed Perfume. "Are you saying that my daughter isn't good  
enough for you?"  
  
Ranma panicked for a second. "No no, that's not it. I mean, I didn't  
even propose to nobody so how can I even be married to her?" Ranma was  
hoping that perhaps if he played ignorant he might be able to escape the  
Amazon marriage laws--he was hoping but the look Lotion gave him already  
told him the answer. He had seen the same look from his 'Cologne,' back  
in Nerima.  
  
"Sorry there sonny-boy," interrupted the Matriarch. "But per twenty six  
hundred years of Amazon tradition, you're already married to my great-  
granddaughter. By our laws, if any Amazon is defeated by an outsider  
male, that Amazon is to give him the kiss of marriage and make him her  
husband."  
  
Ranma had heard all this before and decided he had to go to plan B.  
"Uh, well you see I can't marry Cologne because... I'm already engaged."  
  
"Oh really? Well, that shouldn't be a problem. Just work hard and you  
should be able to afford having two wives. Just remember to tell your  
fiancée, that she'll have to settle for being Second Wife since by our  
laws, you're already married to Cologne."[2]  
  
*Blink* *Blink*  
  
'Huh?' thought Ranma. That wasn't the response he was expecting.  
  
"Well, uh..." he then began. His mouth felt dry as he searched his mind  
for something intelligent to say, to at least respond to Lotion's  
statement. Then it hit him.  
  
"Hey," he remarked. "Isn't poly.. polygamy illegal?"  
  
All three women stared at him for a second before erupting into a trio  
of laughter.  
  
"Where exactly are you from again?" questioned Perfume as she strived to  
regain her composure.  
  
Ranma simply sat there and sulked.  
  
*** Nerima Japan, Tendo Living Room ***  
  
"What!?"  
  
The two fathers were in an uproar.  
  
"So, you just accepted!?" blurted out Genma. "And here you've been  
fighting tooth and nail to avoid 'your' duty to marry Akane. Oh, the  
shame! To have such a dishonorable son who would forsake his fiancée  
and his family's honor!"  
  
Soun immediately made use of his "demon's-head" technique, as an  
expanded devil horned specter of his face loomed over his head,  
bellowing out words of outrage. "RAN-MA! HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON MY  
SWEET AKANE? I--"  
  
His words were cut short when Ranma snapped his fingers, using a slight  
application of ki to cause the snap to resonate throughout the household  
like a gunshot--instantly sobering the two fathers into a mollified  
alert silence.  
  
"Are you two done whining like a bunch of old women?" asked Ranma. He  
had an annoyed expression on his face as he eyed the two fathers  
dangerously. His eyes momentarily glowed a demonic blue as he  
consciously applied the "soul of ice" technique to lower the room's  
ambient temperature. Everyone gave an involuntary shiver, as Ranma  
continued--not waiting for the two fathers to respond.  
  
"I can understand that you two are upset. You've probably spent the  
past two decades dreaming for the day when your two children would marry  
and carry on the two schools for you. However, our little romp in the  
past left me there stranded for four hundred years. So before you two  
begin passing judgment upon me, I think it's wise that you two learn to  
shut up and listen and hear what I have to say!"  
  
"I didn't come back here just so that you two could yell at me. I came  
back because even after all this time, I still care about you--all of  
you," he said as he cast his gaze from his father to each and every  
Tendo. "I could have simply faded away and let you guys wonder what had  
happened to me. I could have easily walked away from my  
responsibilities and let you all think that I had died of old age.  
However, like I said, even though you 'Father' and you 'Mr. Tendo' are  
acting like two whinny little-shits, I still love you guys because after  
all we're family."  
  
He then gave a sigh as he added, "and besides, what's done is done.  
Everything I'm telling happened well over four hundred years ago. It  
was another time and another place. I did what I did and that's the end  
of it."  
  
There was a momentary lull in the silence, before a soft voice from  
upstairs interrupted.  
  
"But Ranma? Couldn't you have at least.. at least have waited for me?"  
spoke Akane. She had come out from her hiding spot, losing much of her  
earlier bravado, as she listened with a dull ache in her heart while  
Ranma relayed to the others the events that had led up to his  
abandonment.  
  
Ranma looked up towards her with a sad frown, then motioned for her to  
come sit. Once she came down, he continued. "Akane, one thing that I  
didn't get to mention before I was interrupted was that I did wait for  
you. I waited for a WHOLE YEAR for you guys to come back for me. When  
I told Cologne and the village elders about my situation, they were all  
very understanding and were willing to annul the marriage if you guys  
came back. But then you never did come, and I suppose now... I know  
why."  
  
A few eyes shifted from him towards Nabiki, who in turn shrunk back into  
herself at their accusing glares. Seeing this, Ranma interjected.  
  
"Oh don't anyone here go blaming Nabiki for this or Akane for that  
matter either." His gaze rested on Shampoo when he mentioned the latter  
part--making sure she understood that any retaliation against her would  
not be accepted. "If there is anyone here who should be held  
accountable, I think that in the end I only have myself to blame."  
  
A few looks of puzzlement followed as Ranma continued. "When I said  
that I waited for you guys to come, that was only part of it. I spent  
the first year waiting--working in the village as I eagerly awaited for  
your return. I woke up every morning thinking that today would be the  
day that I would go home. That you guys would just pop up and whisk me  
away back to civilization."  
  
"But when the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months.  
I think you can understand that by winter, with all that time spent  
holed up in the village, that I realized that you guys weren't coming  
and that I should start thinking of China as my home. But I didn't let  
it get to that; I didn't want to simply give up--even after all the  
signs were there."  
  
"I think it was after two straight weeks of snow and I suppose I was  
suffering from a bit of cabin fever that I just snapped. I decided then  
and there that come spring, as soon as the snow begins to thaw, I was  
going to hunt down Happossai and get the mirror back. I wasn't going to  
take this sitting down--at least not without a fight."  
  
"For nearly two years I stalked and preyed after any clues to find him,  
for any rumor that may have led me to him. With the help of Cologne and  
a few friends we made along the way, we succeeded in tracking him down  
to a small village where we managed to get the mirror back intact. But  
by then, things had dramatically changed that would forever prevent me  
from returning home."  
  
Ranma's eyes glazed over at the memory of it.  
  
*** 1595 AD, Qinghai Province ***  
  
"Husband, what's the matter? You're frowning. Did you not enjoy  
yourself?"  
  
Cologne had a concerned expression on her face as she looked up at her  
husband. She noticed that Ranma was not asleep, despite the two having  
made love all that night. He looked troubled and she was worried that  
he was now having second thoughts about them finally consummating their  
marriage after three long years of courtship.  
  
The man looked down at her and smiled--shaking his head. He leaned  
forward and kissed the top of her hairline as he squeezed her naked body  
against his. Ranma had no regrets; to the contrary, he had wanted it as  
much as she had, but in the back of his mind he couldn't help but feel  
as if a little part of him had died that night.  
  
Looking Cologne in the eye. "Don't think so little of yourself, I  
couldn't ask for a better wife."  
  
Cologne smiled at his compliment; she had enjoyed herself too--many  
times that night in fact. She consciously brought a hand to her groin  
area, feeling its soreness. She then brought her hand up to her belly,  
tracing her index and middle fingers over her navel as she imaged what  
it would feel like to be carrying Ranma's baby.  
  
"I'm glad," she absently remarked. "But that doesn't explain why you're  
frowning."  
  
Ranma sighed, "there's nothing wrong, Dear. I'm fine, I'm just thinking  
about a few things."  
  
"What kind of things?" she asked innocently.  
  
He cracked a smile. "Can't a married man still have some secrets?"  
  
"Yes he can," Cologne began sweetly. "Just as long as those secrets are  
shared with his wife and no one else."  
  
Ranma thought about this and consented. He knew he shouldn't start out  
a marriage based on secrets and lies--even if those secrets might get  
him kicked in the balls. He wanted a marriage founded on love and trust  
and he knew enough from his experience in Nerima to see what a lack of  
trust could do to a relationship.  
  
Choosing his words carefully, he slowly began to relay his thoughts.  
"Well Dear, since you asked, I was just thinking about Nerima and  
thinking about everyone at home. I was wondering if everyone got back  
alright and if they did, why didn't they come back for me?" Ranma  
immediately felt Cologne go stiff in his arms as she listened; he could  
tell that she didn't exactly like the direction his words were heading.  
Sensing this, he closed his eyes briefly in frustration, wishing he had  
instead lied. In his pause, he heard Cologne whisper something, but it  
came out rather muffled.  
  
"Huh? What was that?" he asked.  
  
"I said: 'if you do regret being here and still wish to go back... I  
won't hold you here anymore. Tomorrow, I'll get father to give me the  
mirror and you can use it to go back home.'"  
  
There was a dull ache in Ranma's heart as he heard this. Cologne didn't  
really mean what she was saying, did she?  
  
"So, does that mean you want me to go?"  
  
"No. But I want you to be happy--"  
  
"Then I'm staying."  
  
There was an odd silence as the two simply lay into each other's  
embrace. Now Cologne was holding on to Ranma tighter than he her. He  
heard her sniffle and Ranma broke the embrace so that he could use his  
free hand to turn her chin upwards. Upon seeing his wife's face, he saw  
twin trails of tears running down her puffy red cheeks.  
  
"Tomorrow, I'll ask father to give me the mirror," Cologne said between  
hiccups, her body was shaking as she tried to regain control of her  
breathing. "You can.. you can still have it and.. and use it to return  
home--so that you can be with your friends and family."  
  
Ranma questioned Cologne's words. In his mind he wondered what was  
driving her to push him away like this. Didn't she love him? Didn't  
she want him to stay? Hadn't he already said that he would stay?  
Wasn't that enough? The answer to those questions immediately struck  
him. 'Of course she wants you to stay, you idiot. But she wants to  
hear you say it; to know that YOU want to be here as much as she does.'  
  
"I can give you the mirror," she said again between sobs, her voice  
small as she fought back the tears and the phlegm in her nose and  
throat. "You can use it to return home--to be with your friends and  
family. I don't want to deny you that..."  
  
Ranma stopped listening as he pulled his wife's face up to his. He  
didn't care about Nerima; he didn't care about Akane or the others.  
What he cared most about now was bringing back that smile, that constant  
look of optimism and mirth that hallmarked the reasons for why he'd ever  
allow himself to fall in love with a woman who would indelibly become  
the "Old Ghoul" who tormented his early teen years.  
  
Palming her face up to his, angling it just so, he thrust forward to  
capture his wife's lips in a passionate kiss--shutting her up to silence  
Cologne's early destructive tirade of self loathing and doubt. As she  
took to Ranma's action with a touch of surprised apprehension, that  
apprehension soon melted away into feelings of contented bliss as she  
relished the feel of his hard body against hers, the feel of his  
rapacious tongue intertwined with her own. After a full minute of  
continued oral fencing, with their hands tied together across each  
other's backs, they broke their embrace with wide-eyed expressions.  
  
Panting for breath, it was Ranma who spoke first.  
  
"Cologne, if that didn't tell you how I already feel about you, then let  
me just say that just because I wonder about Nerima, that just because  
I'm curious about what happened to my friends and family, that doesn't  
mean I don't love you also. Don't be jealous about them; they were my  
past--you can't change that. But in turn, I have accepted you as my  
future."  
  
"I love you. I can't imagine my life without you. I want to be with  
you forever, to tell everyone that you are my wife and that I'm the  
luckiest man on Earth for having you. So don't you ever... ever-ever  
think otherwise. Because remember Cologne, I didn't have to stay  
married to you. I CHOSE to stay because I WANT to, because I've fallen  
madly in love with you and I could never bear the thought of--"  
  
Ranma's words were silenced as he felt his lips being pressed against by  
those of his wife's. This second kiss lasted even longer than the  
first, and as he recovered panting for breath, Ranma saw the shine of  
joy return to his wife's eyes as Cologne let out another sob. Which  
precipitated yet another deep kiss that Cologne followed up by gripping  
her husband's head by the ears to force his nude body down against her  
own.  
  
"Iloveyou,Iloveyou,Iloveyou..." she whispered as she felt his lips  
tickle the side of her neck, while she gripped his head--steering it  
across her collar bone and down towards her breasts.  
  
For the duration of night and the following morning, Cologne would try  
her hardest not to let this man go from her embrace. So between her  
high pitched cries of passion, she would moan out his name while  
repeating over and over again her undying love for him. And with each  
orgasm she achieved and the subsequent spillage of Ranma's seed, she  
would cling to him with a tighter and tighter embrace. Holding him in  
her arms, even after fatigue induced sleep overtook the both of them.  
  
*** The Present, Tendo Living Room ***  
  
Ranma still held the same far and distant gaze as he spoke.  
  
"I simply fell in love."  
  
There were looks of wide-eyed shock, as Ranma continued.  
  
"For three years I had tried to keep things strictly platonic between  
Cologne and I, but I suppose I was fighting against the inevitable. In  
the time it took me to get use to life in the village, it was Cologne  
who was there for me: to teach me, to be my friend, to aid me in my  
quest to find Happossai. I guess it was only natural that I would fall  
in love with her and she in love with me. And even though we got  
married under unusual circumstances, I can't say that I regretted it,  
only wishing that it didn't have to end under the circumstances that it  
did."  
  
As Ranma finished he brought his eyes back into focus, noticing that  
Nabiki was looking at him as if to ask a question. Nodding his head,  
she began. "Well, I guess that sort of explains why Shampoo can no  
longer be considered your wife or why you didn't wait for Akane (Though  
who could blame you considering what you went through). However  
Saotome, that still doesn't explain everything. If you don't mind, can  
I ask you a few more questions?"  
  
Ranma paused and looked around the room to see if there were any  
objections before nodding sagely to Nabiki. Smiling, Nabiki took a sip  
of her tea as she prepared to unleash a few of the questions that had  
been tickling at the back of her mind.  
  
"Okay, so you've established that you were married to Cologne and why  
you remained in the past, but if you're Shampoo's Great-Grandfather, how  
come Shampoo didn't recognize you as such? Speaking of which, why  
didn't Cologne stop Shampoo from chasing after you? I assume Cologne  
knew that her Great-Granddaughter was chasing her Great-Grandfather and  
not a potential husband?" At hearing that, Shampoo nodded her head  
slightly. The poor girl was hurt and she wanted to know why her Great-  
Grandmother would let her work herself up over a man she could never  
call husband again.  
  
Thinking for a second, Ranma turned to Cologne who eyed him right back.  
Contorting his features as he furled his eyebrows in some sort of  
irritation, Ranma proceeded to answer. "Well, your question is a bit  
complex but to simplify things, the reason why Cologne did not warn  
Shampoo was due to a few factors. I'm no expert in temporal mechanics,  
but a scientist friend of mine explained it best by saying that time is  
like a river with an infinite number of interconnected tributaries  
running along its length."  
  
"Whenever a change occurs in the time stream a new tributary forms  
splintering off from the main body, carrying with it the essence of that  
change. This river analogy helps explain the possibilities of alternate  
worlds and dimensions. I'm sure right now there is probably an Earth  
where I was never left behind and things went on unchanged. With that  
understood, the reason why Cologne didn't tell Shampoo not to go and  
chase after me was because she did not want to create a time paradox."  
  
Seeing that he was receiving a few blank stares, Ranma continued to  
elaborate. "Even though time is somewhat linear in how humans  
experience it, the concept of time travel makes time more cyclical in  
nature. When I talked about a 'time paradox,' I meant that in order for  
Shampoo as we know her to exist, it all depends on me marrying Cologne  
and us producing Shampoo's mother or rather Shampoo's I think, great-  
great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother." Ranma  
waited as the information slowly trickled into everyone's head, when  
everyone reasserted their attention back towards him he continued.  
  
"Well, in order to avoid a time paradox which would create a world where  
Shampoo might not be born because I never met her and cause a continuous  
cycle of me meeting her and me not meeting her, Cologne and I felt it  
was necessary to push our Great-Granddaughter to pursue me at the  
expense of some lost pride. To do so otherwise would lead to  
repercussions that are unknown and possibly dangerous."  
  
At hearing Ranma's answer, Shampoo couldn't hold back the tears she had  
held since learning that Ranma was forever lost to her. Sobbing, Ranma  
leaned over to Shampoo and put a comforting arm around her shoulder as  
the girl cried sad tears into his shirt. Under normal circumstances,  
Shampoo would be elated at being so close to her "Airen" but that was  
the problem.  
  
'He's no longer my husband' she thought forlornly. 'I should be mad at  
Great-Grandmother, but.. but Ai.. er Great-Grandfather is right.'  
Hugging Ranma, Shampoo let out her emotions as she tried to calm down  
her nerves.  
  
Normally the two fathers would be upset at Ranma hugging anyone besides  
Akane, but seeing Shampoo's pitiful state they weren't going to object.  
Almost a half-minute passed before the girl's crying died down. It was  
then that Nabiki asked her next question.  
  
"Ahem, Ranma. I am sorry to interrupt your bonding with your Great-  
Granddaughter, but you failed to answer the second part of my question.  
You forgot to explain why Shampoo didn't recognize you if you're her  
Great-Grandfather... actually, now that I think about it, I'm curious as  
to why you don't look as aged as Cologne and Happossai? Does it perhaps  
have something to do with your curse?"  
  
Ranma nodded his head. "You're right, I didn't answer that last part.  
But no, my youthful appearance has nothing to do with my curse. In  
fact, I got rid of the curse a long time ago. But in any case," he said  
as he gave a dismissing wave of his hand, "the answer to your first  
question all happened about ten years after Cologne and I got married.  
I was about twenty-four, no twenty-five at the time and she had recently  
given birth to our fifth child, a beautiful little girl we  
coincidentally named Xian Pu."  
  
A stray smile from him made its way to Cologne, who replied in kind,  
nodding her head at the memory of their youngest child.  
  
"That year the Qing launched a massive campaign to expand their  
territory and control westward and when the Manchu horsemen made it to  
our secluded valley, we of course resisted any attempts by them to  
subjugate us. In the eight-day battle, I can say that we killed a lot  
more of them than they of us, but among the dead I was one of them. I  
would still be buried in the ground in Cologne's ancestral shrine,  
except that the day after the funeral I awoke whole and healed."  
  
"At the time, I didn't know what had happened to me, except that I  
should have been dead. I can still remember how I died--a spear through  
the heart and about half a dozen arrows in the chest. In any case, I  
didn't know what had happened to me or why I was healed. All I wanted  
to do at that point was just to go home. But when I did I was greeted  
in fear as people I had come to call friends and neighbors all thought  
that I was a kuang si(2). Ultimately, because I was considered a hero  
by the village I was banished--rather than killed outright--sentenced to  
roam the countryside and never return less they send their devil hunters  
after me."  
  
"And so I reluctantly agreed, as I was forced to leave behind my  
beautiful wife and children. I loved them so very much." His voice was  
getting a little weak as his eyes watered at the memory. Ryoko's gentle  
hand reached over to wipe away a few stray tears as she enveloped him in  
a hug on the opposite side of Shampoo. He leaned into Ryoko's embrace  
as he continued. "It truly broke me up inside to do what I did. I  
wanted to die, I wanted to kill myself after that... but you see, I  
couldn't."  
  
"One thing about the kuang si is that they can't die. And believe me, I  
tried." A few startled gasps were heard. "That's right, I tried to  
kill myself," he said. "On multiple occasions. I would for example,  
slit my wrists to the bone, or jab a knife into my heart, hell... I even  
attempted to commit seppuku. I remember in great detail how it felt to  
slit my own belly from one end to the other as I watched my stomach and  
intestines fall out."  
  
At the memory, Ranma let off a faint laugh. "It's funny. Every time I  
attempted to commit suicide, I would wake up from the incident soaked in  
my own blood. I would find that each wound--no matter how big or small,  
or how severe or insignificant--would heal itself in a matter of minutes  
or hours depending on the cut's size. After maybe another half-dozen  
attempts to end my life, I simply gave up. Instead, I refocused my  
energies on trying to explain my condition--to maybe find a cure for  
it."  
  
"For at least a couple of decades, I traveled all across China, Tibet,  
and India. I visited countless religious temples and remote shrines-  
-whether they be Hindu, Taoist, or Buddhist. I went to them all:  
looking, studying, asking for the answers I so desperately sought."  
  
"I learned a lot during that time, some of it pertinent to my condition,  
while others things more spiritual in nature. Well, I didn't stop in my  
search until I reached the site of a remote Shaolin temple in the  
mountains of northern China. That's where I came across an elder monk  
who would become one of my greatest teachers. His name was Master Long,  
and just by looking at me he told me straight out that just like him, I  
was no kuang si but rather something entirely different--I was an  
immortal."  
  
Ranma proceeded to pour some more tea for himself as he allowed the  
group to digest what he had just told them. No one else dared respond,  
until Nabiki's curiosity got the best of her.  
  
"Ranma," she began, unsure on how to continue. "Um, thank you for  
sharing with us, but um.. you're joking about being immortal right?"  
  
He shook his head. "Nabiki, when I mean immortal I mean forever young.  
I'm over four hundred years old, yet I don't look a day over twenty-  
five. Cologne and Happossai are just as old as I am, yet you can see  
the obvious physical differences. And for them to have lived as long as  
they have, it is only because they have learned to focus both their  
minds and bodies to attain such a state of harmony that they can harness  
their internal chi and manipulate it to such a degree that they have  
slowed their aging processes."  
  
"I on the other hand don't age at all. I've met other immortals, some  
much older than I am, and they didn't look any older than from the  
moment they became immortal.  
  
Nabiki nodded her head with a greater, though still limited state of  
understanding. "Okay Ranma, I definitely want to ask you more about  
being immortal, but before I do can we backtrack for a moment? This is  
about something you mentioned before. You said that you cured yourself  
of your curse a long time ago. If I may ask, what did you use to cure  
yourself?" Nabiki smiled inwardly as Ranma prepared to answer, in her  
mind she knew that with such information at her disposal, she could--for  
a price--pass on this piece of information to a few concerned Jusenkyo  
victims who just so happened resided in Nerima.  
  
Behind her Genma was thinking along similar lines, though for more self-  
serving reasons. Instead of selling the information for profit, he in  
turn saw a potential cure for his curse. The thought of finally being a  
man and whole again was racing through his head at that very moment.  
  
So as Genma, Nabiki and the rest of the assembled guest waited, Ranma  
gave his reply. "Oh, the cure was rather quite simple," he began coyly.  
"It was so simple in fact, I don't know why Pop and I never thought of  
doing it before. But in any case, you know how Shampoo had those  
packets of instant nanniichuan powder, well during my ten years at the  
village it finally dawned on me that all I needed to do to cure myself  
was to take a dunk in the real spring. So one quick trip to Jusenkyo  
and voila, instant cure."  
  
Nabiki was going to continue with her next question when Genma  
interrupted. "Boy err, son," began Genma. "By any chance would you  
have any water from that spring?" Genma had to ask at the very least,  
he knew that even if his son didn't bring any spring of drown man water,  
he still in fact knew that the spring would indeed cur him of his curse.  
All he needed was a return flight ticket back to China. To Genma's  
question, Ranma smiled and nodded his head.  
  
"Yeah Pop, but I don't have any water on me."  
  
Genma looked downcast for a second, but brightened up that at least his  
son possessed the cure. And while he did feel a bit somber about not  
being cured at the moment, he was elated that not only had his son  
returned to marry Akane, but that he was the Grandmaster of Anything  
Goes Martial Arts. Turning to Soun who looked at him in knowing  
understanding, Genma proceeded to speak.  
  
"Son," he began in full seriousness. "Now that you have returned from  
beyond the grave, you can now fulfill your duties and honor the pledge  
between the two families by marrying Akane."  
  
"That's right," Soun then added. "You'll marry my sweet Akane. It must  
be an act by God that has kept you alive and well. It must be fated in  
the heavens that you two were to marry." Soun and Genma proceeded to  
break out in giddy laughter as they imagined their dream soon being  
realized. However, that dream was just as quickly popped as Ranma  
retorted to their request.  
  
"Sorry, as 'lovely' as Akane is Mr. Tendo, I'm no longer in the position  
to fulfill the pledge to unite the two schools." The fathers as well as  
the rest of the Tendos looked at Ranma oddly. Ranma didn't flat out  
reject the idea, as he normally would have, instead he evaded the  
subject by stating a prior obligation or handicap that prevented him  
from the pledge.  
  
'What could that be?' the three Tendo daughters thought. The two  
fathers meanwhile didn't even bother thinking, as they grew angry with  
Ranma's resistance to their plans.  
  
"Now why is it that you can't fulfill the pledge, son?" asked Soun with  
a stern gaze. His eyes moved from Ranma and then shifted to Ryoko who  
was still holding him in an embrace. Everyone had seen how close the  
two were when they had first entered the Tendo living room, it wasn't a  
far fetched guess to assume that along with Ranma proclaiming her as his  
fiancée, that the two were indeed already romantically involved.  
  
Realizing the direction of everyone's thoughts, Ranma answered before  
Genma had a chance to browbeat his son. "My inability to fulfill the  
pledge isn't just that I'm involved with someone at the moment, though  
it does play a factor. The main reason is the practical side of the  
marriage contract. I assume that the pledge to unite the two schools  
was so that an heir would be produced and thus would secure the  
continuance of the Tendo and Saotome lines and in so doing, combine  
them?" The two fathers merely nodded their heads as they wondered what  
Ranma was getting at.  
  
"Okay," Ranma continued. "Well if that is the case, then I am the wrong  
person to fulfill the contract. The reason being is that with my  
immortality, I'm also sterile." When Ranma finished a great wail  
erupted from the two fathers, while the other Tendo daughters spoke in a  
more subdued manner.  
  
"Sterile?" they all questioned.  
  
Ranma nodded his head as he continued. "That is correct. I am sterile,  
as in there will be no children produced from my loins." When Ranma  
finished, the fathers sat there stunned.  
  
'This can't be,' they thought. The two fathers were about to retort  
with something when Kasumi beat them to it.  
  
"But Ranma," she questioned. "If you're sterile, then how was it that  
you and Cologne had five children?"  
  
Smiling fondly at the memory, Ranma answered. "Good question, the  
answer has something to do with my immortal status as I said earlier.  
I'm not sure about the exact science behind it, but according to Master  
Long, he was the Shaolin Priest that I mentioned earlier. Well,  
according to Master Long he explained that like all fellow immortals,  
something is activated in our body, perhaps a gene of some sort that  
turns on after we experience a violent death. Obviously not everyone  
possesses this gene, but those who do and who die a violent death are  
granted the power of immortality."  
  
"We no longer age, we are immune to all disease or cancer. We cannot be  
killed by normal means. However, with these powers we also become  
slaves to our own condition. We become infertile and are possessed by  
the urge or desire to fight and kill one another until there is only one  
of us left. This is called the Game and I must ask you that what I have  
just said and what I will say next not leave this room. If it does I'll  
be forced to kill you."  
  
Ranma didn't smile as he spoke, the seriousness on his face and in his  
tone conveyed to the crowd that he would not hesitate to act on his  
promise. Seeing everyone nod his or her head in agreement, Ranma  
continued. "As I said earlier, our immortality does not activate itself  
unless we die a violent death. So before my death I was like the rest  
of you, I could still father children and if not for the Qing, I would  
have died of old age or disease like the rest of you will. I'm not sure  
why immortals exist, why we can't father or mother children."  
  
"Some of us have theorized that perhaps God of the Gods put us on Earth  
as a stepping stone between man and the divine, others have theorized  
that we are merely an evolutionary product of natural selection, though  
that idea is considered implausible since we can't father children and  
we are all bound by this desire to kill one another. I see that I'm  
getting off topic, but I think I made my point that a marriage between  
myself and one of the Tendo daughters would not work towards carrying on  
the two schools."  
  
As Ranma finished Genma gave his reply. "Don't worry son, your  
impotence isn't a problem. You can still marry Akane, I mean who needs  
children with your immortality. With just you, the Saotome line will  
live on forever." Genma was quite proud with himself as he said that  
though Ranma retorted harshly that he was sterile, not impotent.  
  
Ignoring his son's comment, Genma went into deep thought. 'Impotent,  
Sterile, Who cares? Who needs grandchildren when I can just leech off  
my son till my dying day? With him around I can easily manipulate him  
to support me in old age.'  
  
While Genma congratulated himself for his brilliant plan, Soun wasn't as  
joyous. "So.. so you're saying there won't be any grandchildren?  
You're sure on this?" Ranma nodded his head to answer the man, seeing  
in Soun's eyes that the Tendo patriarch had deeply wanted to see his  
daughters marry and to have children. "I.. I understand Ranma. I  
suppose with your condition, I cannot expect you fulfill the pledge."  
When Genma heard that, he all but exploded.  
  
"Tendo!" he stated. "How can you call off the pledge? It has been our  
life long dream, don't tell me you're backing out now." Soun who was  
melancholy before, returned his friends fervor with tears.  
  
"But Saotome," he cried. "With your son shooting blanks, however will  
the Tendo line continue?" Soun made a valid point: how was the Tendo  
line to continue without any heirs? Thinking quickly Genma was hit by  
insight.  
  
"Don't fret Tendo. Who said the Tendo line would end? You still have  
two others daughters, they can carry on your family bloodline, while  
Akane marries Ranma." Then lowering his voice, Genma whispered.  
"Besides Tendo, we'll just take one of your other daughter's sons and  
have Ranma and Akane adopt him as their own. It's perfect. Plus, with  
Ranma's immortality, we no longer have to fear of him getting killed by  
Akane's cooking. It's truly a match made in heaven."  
  
Perking up at Genma's words, Soun concurred with words not as discreet  
or secretive as Genma's. "Quite right Saotome" he said for all to hear.  
"We'll just take one of Nabiki's or Kasumi's sons and give him to Ranma  
and Akane to adopt and train. Why, that's a perfect plan." Soun was  
about to high-five his friend, who during all this was trying to shush  
the man. However, Genma attempts to keep his plan a secret was met by  
startled looks.  
  
"Father!" admonished Kasumi. "How can you even think of something like  
that? I will not give up my unborn son to anyone, even if it is to my  
own sister." Nabiki was right behind her sister when she added her own  
retort.  
  
"That's right daddy. I can't believe you'd go along with such a plan.  
And what of Akane, do you think that she'd want to marry Ranma knowing  
that she can't have children?" The Tendo patriarch shrunk back  
immediately in shame under the fiery retorts and gaze of his two  
daughters. Hearing their harsh statement made him rethink the validity  
of the whole plan. Soun was about to call off the whole thing when  
Ranma interrupted.  
  
"Look Mr. Tendo" began Ranma. "Even if your daughters can get behind  
the fact that they can't have children or if they do it would be  
illegitimate, I should also add that even if they could get past that, I  
wouldn't marry them. I'm already involved with someone whom I love very  
much." As Ranma said that, everyone eyed him and then eyed Ryoko as the  
two held one another's hand in a sign of unity and support.  
  
Genma just looked at his son with a promise that he would have him wed a  
Tendo, Soun on the other hand no longer held the same adamant desire in  
his heart. He still wished to unite the two schools, but coupled with  
Ranma admission of being both sterile and in love with someone else and  
combined with the stinging words from his two daughters, Soun was having  
second thoughts on the pledge ever being fulfilled.  
  
While thinking thoughts that all had been lost, Soun was revitalized by  
Ranma's next words. "Mr. Tendo, although I can no longer fulfill the  
pledge I did not come back here just to dash your dreams. I have  
several proposals that should still satisfy everyone's honor and  
hopefully do what the original pledge sought out to accomplish. Would  
you care to hear them?"  
  
Everyone nodded their heads as they curiously wondered how the once  
clueless Ranma could come up with a plan to satisfy all that he had  
promised. Seeing that he had their attention, Ranma proceeded to take a  
moment to sip his tea and collect his thoughts.  
  
"Before I begin, I would like to talk a little bit about the pitfalls of  
the pledge and why it was so difficult for both Akane and I to get  
married. For starters, I think we can all readily agree that if not for  
my father engaging me to multiple girls, the legitimacy of my engagement  
to a Tendo would never have been questioned and a lot of our problems  
could have been avoided." Everyone nodded their heads while some looked  
daggers at Genma who was totally oblivious to their gazes.  
  
"With that agreed," Ranma continued. "I would like to add that right  
now with Shampoo no longer eligible to marry me, there is only two real  
engagements that my father has made that I feel need to be honored. One  
is of course the pledge between the Tendo and Saotome clans; the other  
is my engagement between Ukyo Kuonji and myself. I have already dealt  
with Miss Kuonji so you no longer need to worry about her. However, in  
your case the fact that I cannot father an heir is the main problem. To  
that I have several proposals that can alleviate that."  
  
Ranma paused as he built up the suspense. "Option number one would  
require that my father commit seppuku so as to clear the Saotome name of  
all the dishonor he brought upon it by engaging me to multiple girls.  
This act will therefore allow for the Saotome clan to invalidate all the  
previous engagements and retain its honor. In doing this, I also in  
turn will promise to train the Tendo heir in the Saotome style of  
Anything Goes Martial Arts and thus uniting the schools that way." When  
Ranma finished, Genma looked bug eyed as he saw everyone, even Soun nod  
his or her head in agreement to Ranma's proposal.  
  
"You can't be serious son?" queried Genma warily. 'This isn't looking  
good,' Genma noted to himself as he started edging away from the table.  
  
However, before Genma could bolt, Ranma continued. "Yes, we could have  
my father commit seppuku but I wouldn't like that. As much as I hate  
you father, I love you just as much. No, having you die won't be a real  
option, but I merely suggested it to see if the others would agree to  
it..."  
  
Taking a breath, "my next suggestion which although doesn't clear the  
Saotome name completely would unite the two schools in blood. During  
our ten-year journey, father never mentioned my mother to that I could  
only assume that he is no longer married, either through divorce or  
death. The same applies to Mr. Tendo, him being a widower. With that,  
either my father can marry one of the Tendo daughters or both Mr. Tendo  
and my father can get remarried, produce a few kids and hopefully there  
will be a boy and girl match. Does that sound satisfactory to any of  
you?"  
  
Soun immediately shook his head as he voiced his opinion. "Ranma,  
although you mean well, I will not betray my wife's memory by marrying  
another. To that, Genma must marry one of my daughters." When Soun  
said that, both Nabiki and Kasumi all but shouted their protests, while  
Akane remained in a state of numbed silence.  
  
"Father" or "Daddy" the middle and eldest Tendo daughters both said. "I  
will not marry him!"  
  
Soun took their protests in stride while noticing Akane's silence as he  
replied. "Don't worry dears; we'll just pass the original engagement  
onto Akane." To that, Genma all but crapped his pants.  
  
"No.. no thank you Tendo" sputtered Genma. "I can't possibly marry  
Akane, hehe. Because I'm already married." Genma proceeded to wipe the  
sweat from his near death experience of possibly betraying his wife,  
Nodoka or being forced to marry the extremely angry and violent, Akane  
Tendo. "Boy" Genma began. "Your ideas are ludicrous. Why don't you  
give up this foolishness and marry Akane?"  
  
Ranma merely rolled his eyes as he answered his father. "Pop, you must  
have some learning disability. If you cared to remember, it's already  
been established that I can't marry a Tendo, that's why we're having  
these talks. Speaking of which, from your reaction I can see that none  
of my options are particularly acceptable." Pausing, he then took  
another sip of his tea.  
  
"Originally I didn't want to bring this one up seeing how improbable  
success would be... You know Pop, are you positive you don't want to  
commit seppuku? I mean you didn't do anything really productive to  
begin with. It's not like you'll be missing anything or any of us  
missing you."  
  
Seeing Genma glare at his son, Ranma smirked as he continued to speak.  
"Okay, okay. So no one is in the mood for ritual suicide or remarriage.  
No problem, this last option requires none of that. Instead, it'll only  
require one of the Tendo girls being able to woo my grandson and heir,  
Tenchi. Ah-ah-ah. Before you guys jump the gun, Tenchi is not related  
to me by blood but that doesn't mean that I didn't remarry over the last  
300 years."  
  
"Tenchi is technically the Great-great-great-great-grandson of a boy  
that I adopted back during the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, therefore  
making me Tenchi's Great-great-great-great-grandfather, though Tenchi  
just calls me Grandfather for short. Anyway, my Grandson is a skilled  
martial artist and since he could walk, both his father and I have been  
training him to carry on the legacy of the Masaki Musabetsu Kakuto  
Ryuu."  
  
Pausing, Ranma waited to hear the eventual response. To his surprise,  
it was Cologne who spoke first. "Ranma" she said in a wizened tone.  
"Can your Grandson marry any girl, or will this be an arranged  
marriage?" At first puzzled by Cologne's reason to question him, Ranma  
smiled in understanding.  
  
"Oh, this is no arranged marriage. I may be the boy's Grandfather but  
his mother would kill me if she heard that I arranged a marriage for her  
only son--especially without her consent. No, Tenchi is free to marry  
whomever he wants, even Shampoo if she were to win his heart."  
  
Cologne face broke out into a large smile as she heard that. Speaking  
quickly in Chinese, Shampoo broke out of her stupor at her Great-  
Grandmother's words. "Thank you for talking with us Ranma, but Shampoo  
and I must return to the Café to prepare for the early dinner rush.  
However, please come in anytime so we can catch up on old times."  
  
Ranma smiled as he watched the two get up and thank their hostess. "I  
would like that very much" began Ranma. "Perhaps I'll come in later  
tomorrow." Cologne merely nodded her head and waved goodbye, behind her  
Shampoo paused as she took a look at Ranma.  
  
"Bye bye, Air.. er Great-Grandfather." Shampoo still held a sad look on  
her face, but Ranma could tell that the girl had lost a lot of her  
initial grief.  
  
'I hope she'll be okay' Ranma remarked to himself.  
  
As the Amazons left, Kasumi alerted everyone to her quiet cry of alarm.  
"Oh my" she said. "Look at the time, I really must get ready to prepare  
dinner." At that statement, Ryoko looked to Ranma and then to the  
eldest Tendo girl.  
  
Realizing what she wanted, Ranma called out to Kasumi. "Oh Kasumi" his  
voice rang. "If you don't mind, Ryoko here is a whiz in the kitchen,  
she was wondering if she could help out." Kasumi only smiled and  
welcomed her in as the two women headed out of the parlor to prepare the  
family's meal.  
  
With the room's inhabitants thinning, Genma and Soun preceded to leave  
and have a game of Shogi, while Happossai bounded over to Akane to cop a  
quick feel, which in turn enraged the previously silent girl into a  
violent rage. With fury in her eye, Akane chased after Happossai who  
gleefully fled out through the veranda and up onto neighboring rooftops-  
-dodging and weaving as various blunt objects were thrown at his  
direction.  
  
With everyone now gone, only Ranma and Nabiki remained. Seeing that she  
now had Ranma alone, Nabiki spoke in her usual cool collected manner.  
  
"Saotome, I have to say you really changed. I'm not sure if that's a  
good or bad thing."  
  
Ranma for his part only smiled and said "you're right, I have changed  
and like you, I'm not sure if its for the better..."  
  
--- End of Chapter ---  
  
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to  
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.  
  
Glossary:  
  
1. Pudao - A cross between a spear and a glaive or voulges. Sort of  
like a Japanese naginata, except the staff is a bit shorter and the  
blade is thick and wide, whereas the naginata is thinner and curved  
back.  
  
2. Marriages back in China's hay day allowed for a man to have as many  
wives as he wanted or rather how many he could afford. Men literally  
had to pay for their wives, so the option of having plural wives was a  
luxury relegated only to the rich.  
  
3. Kuang Si - A sort of Chinese equivalent to an undead zombie.  
  
Q&A:  
  
Q1. Is Ranma's rebirth as an immortal similar to Connar McCleod?  
  
A1. Yeah, it is. Not too original but I'm at least going to make  
things as historically accurate as possible.  
  
Q2. Ryoko cooking, are you insane?  
  
A2. Yeah, I'm a little insane since I've been pushing back working on  
this big paper that's due tomorrow and have instead been working on  
this. Pretty stupid if not insane.  
  
Q3. Did you change Tenchi's relationship to Ranma? Wasn't Ranma,  
Tenchi's Great-Grandfather in your previous versions?  
  
A3. To answer that, the answer to both is yes. I originally had Tenchi  
being Ranma's Great-Grandson or rather Great, great... grandson however  
I decided to change Tenchi's father and so things have changed. I won't  
spoil for you who Tenchi's father is however it will be revealed after  
chapter so stay tuned.  
  
Q4. Didn't the Qing take over China in the 1640s? And if so, how or  
why could the Qing attack Ranma's village during the early 1600s?  
  
A4. Well, because I changed the dates from Cologne being over 300 years  
to over 400 years (so that I can make this fic more historically  
accurate with my Ninja Scroll prequel) I decided to tweak the dates  
during my revision of this fic. In any case, historical dates are  
getting butchered, so live with it.  
  
Q5. What is different in this revision (version 1.05)?  
  
A5. For those who haven't read previous versions of this chapter, just  
know that I changed events in the chapter to portray Akane is a nicer  
light. I've also added more "touchy-feely" and consequently "limish"  
content between Ranma and Cologne. I've gotten some complaints that I  
didn't include enough content between the two and so I inserted that  
whole scene as a test run, to see what the audience thinks. Hint: send  
me a review whether good or bad. 


	4. Ch 03 Cold Mornings

Echoes in Time (v1.05, 05/02/03)  
  
Chapter 3: Cold Mornings  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
The characters of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takakashi. The characters  
of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima Masaki. The characters of Highlander  
belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All other characters and trademarks to  
appear are owned by their respective owners. So in other words, I DO  
NOT own any of them unless otherwise noted, so please don't sue me  
because I have Zero money. Thank You.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Warning!!! ---  
  
Anyway this is an Alterverse fanfic that may or may not have severe x-  
over tendencies. If you don't like X-Overs or don't like the idea of  
anything but a Ranma + Akane pairing then don't read this. Consider  
yourself warned.  
  
Well, I don't know how the hell this turned into a lemon/lime fic but  
just to let you know the first part of this story starts out rather  
gratuitous. If you're not into guy on guy then don't fret because I  
wouldn't write that anyway. But girl on girl, now that's a different  
story. In any case, expect to see some sexual references that hopefully  
were done in good taste, otherwise I bow in shame for being a hentai.  
  
--- Note to Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story  
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds  
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning  
home.  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---  
  
*Splash*  
  
'Brr, that's damn cold' thought Ranma. He could feel the biting nips  
and stings of ice-cold water as it sunk deep into his skin--soaking not  
only his person but also his once warm futon.  
  
'Where am I am?' he then asked, his eyes opened only to see darkness and  
for a brief second he began to panic, not realizing where he was. But  
then memories from last night began to filter into consciousness,  
reminding him that he was back in his old bedroom at the Tendo  
household.  
  
A relieved sigh then escaped his lips, warming his nose in the process.  
Looking forward and still seeing darkness, he could feel the softness of  
his thick bed sheets as they covered his head. It then dawned on him  
that he needed to remove his covers in order to see who it was that  
would dare wake him up so rudely.  
  
So acting on an anger driven impulse, he swiftly pulled down his sheets  
only to cover his head back up with them again. He now squinted his  
eyes in gritted pain, having exposed his retinas to a room of blinding  
light. Now it seemed that the person who threw water on him had also  
had the gall to open his bedroom window.  
  
'Grr, whoever did this is going to get it,' he silently vowed. Ranma  
now began to ponder who would dare do such a thing. 'Pops?' he first  
questioned. 'Naw, it couldn't be. After the beating I gave him last  
night, it'd be a miracle if he could move let alone walk.' Opening his  
eyes fully, he caught sight of Akane Tendo as she stood in front of the  
doorway with a smug look on her face. Dressed in her pajamas, Ranma  
half-hazard a guess that either the girl had a death wish or she had  
completely forgotten all about the events of last night.  
  
'Bingo' he mentally spoke. He could practically see the mental gears  
turning in sequence as the girl's emotions played out across her face.  
Her eyes shifted first from him, then to the woman lying in bed next to  
him. Akane grew livid at what she saw.  
  
++++++++++  
  
"Who the hell is that!?" Akane barked. She would have flung the now  
empty metal bucket at him if she hadn't been so angry and surprised at  
what she saw. She was so angry in fact that she didn't even realize  
that Ranma hadn't transformed, instead her mind was focused on the woman  
lying in bed with her fiancé.  
  
Shampoo or Kodachi she might have expected to see, even Ukyo to some  
extent, but this was someone entirely new. 'I bet she's a better cook  
and martial artist to boot' she mentally added. 'I already know that  
she's beautiful. Damn it, why does Ranma have to be such a pervert?'  
  
Akane just wanted to cry at the injustice of it all. After waking up  
from a terrible nightmare in which Ranma was transported and left  
stranded in the past, she had wanted to go check up on him immediately.  
Instead of finding a sleeping Ranma and his sometimes human or panda  
father, she catches him in bed with another woman.  
  
'Why couldn't it have been me? I'm his fiancé after all.' Feeling hurt  
and cheated on, Akane did the only thing that came natural to her--she  
got violent.  
  
"Ranma!" she started to growl. Ranma hadn't even reacted to her  
question; there was no stuttering, no attempt to claim that this wasn't  
what it looked like. 'He's going to pay' she thought. 'Most definitely  
he's going to pay.'  
  
Stalking towards the pair like a mad gorilla, Akane's fists tightened as  
she prepared to deliver a dose of punishment to her errant fiancé.  
Progressing forward, the bucket in her hand crumpled under her strength  
as her knuckles turned sheer white in clenched furry.  
  
'How dare he do this to me? In my own house no less. And that hussy,  
she'll regret ever thinking of bedding with MY Ranma.'  
  
Akane was so mad that she failed to catch herself as she said 'MY  
Ranma.' It was something that she wouldn't have admitted to anybody let  
alone herself, but with all that had happened between them it was only  
natural that she had developed feelings for him.  
  
'First I'm going to pound him senseless and then I'll deal with that  
slut. When I'm done with his whore, she'll be so ugly he'll be begging  
for my forgiveness.' Crackling her knuckles, she deliberately walked at  
a slow gait, approaching them in a way that was akin to a 1950s horror  
flick monster.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Watching Akane from his position, Ranma calmly contemplated his options.  
'Hmm, perhaps I'll just reason with the girl. Akane was always prone to  
extreme acts of stupidity. Perhaps if I just tell her that this is all  
just a dream she might just leave.' He was about to speak but was cut  
off by Ryoko's voice.  
  
"Ryoko" came her calm reply. Akane paused at this.  
  
"Huh, what are you talking about?" she replied intelligently.  
  
"Ryoko--it's my name. You just asked 'Who the hell is that?' and the  
answer's Ryoko."  
  
Akane stood there puzzled. This wasn't going as she had planned.  
Normally Ranma would have seen how mad she was, try to get up and reason  
with her and while he was distracted she'd pummel him. But instead, the  
woman he was in bed with was talking to her. 'What's going on?' Akane  
seemed to ask herself.  
  
"We were sleeping" came Ryoko's reply. She briefly leaned forward to sit  
herself upright. Her casual movements caused their cotton sheets to  
fall away from her chest, revealing that she was naked, or at least  
topless.  
  
Furthermore in their current position with Ryoko's head nestled in the  
crook of his shoulder and neck and with their legs intertwined it was  
easy to assume what the two had been doing the night before. Seeing  
this display, combined with Ranma's unconcerned face and Ryoko's lazy  
and playful grin, the whole thing seemed mocking to the Tendo girl.  
  
"Ranma!" she all but yelled. Akane wasn't even going to bother talking  
with them; instead she was preparing her battle cry. She was about to  
finish with a "you idiot!" when Ryoko interrupted her.  
  
"Do you mind?" she began, her voice with a hint of annoyance in it. "We  
were sleeping earlier and because of you, you just ruined my chance to  
give my-Ranma a proper wakeup call. Now how the hell am I going to  
reward him for all that he did for me last night?" Ryoko then grinned  
devilishly in remembrance of a fond memory from the night before.  
  
Akane couldn't help but scowl in response. She wanted to do something,  
to beat up Ranma and then kill the woman he dared sleep with. With her  
anger boiling past critical, her top finally blew when she watched Ryoko  
slip her hand below the bed sheets and snake her way towards Ranma's  
pelvis.  
  
With her hand on her intended target, Ryoko grasped a hold of it and  
gave it a nice firm squeeze. Ranma let out a sudden gasp as he later  
groaned at the continued contact, causing his eyes to roll backup into  
his head. With a feeling of contented bliss on his face he gave up  
paying any further attention to Ryoko and Akane's conversation as he  
laid back into his pillow, enjoying immensely Ryoko's vertical  
ministrations.  
  
For Akane, she couldn't believe what was happening. 'She.. she's not  
really. Oh my, so big! Oh god I'm a pervert.' Too embarrassed at what  
she was seeing to be mad anymore, Akane deftly dropped her bucket and  
left the room, closing the door behind her with a loud slam. Outside  
she panted at the mixture of excitement, fear, and anger that this  
confrontation had elicited from her. Feeling an odd sensation of pent  
up frustration within her abdomen, Akane rushed off to her room to  
alleviate some stress.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Back inside their bedroom, Ryoko gave a feral grin. With her sensitive  
ears she listened as she heard Akane's footsteps rush off and away  
towards her own bedroom. Feeling proud of herself, she was broken out  
of her revelry by the sound of Ranma's voice.  
  
"You know that was plain evil," he said as Ryoko continued to apply  
pressure to his member.  
  
She smiled at him as she answered back. "Oh?" she began. "But you  
still love me don't you?"  
  
Ranma put on a look of deep contemplation as he prepared to answer.  
"Well I don't know..." He didn't finish before Ryoko leaned in and gave  
him a playful kiss.  
  
"You best shut up," she began. "Before that big mouth of yours ruins  
this."  
  
Ranma nodded his head in agreement. "Quite so, quite so."  
  
Now, with the threat of continued interruptions gone and Ranma's big  
mouth pacified by Ryoko's lips, the daughter of Washuu focused her  
attention back to the love of her life. Smiling at the look of pleasure  
on Ranma's face, she began to heighten the pace at which she was giving  
him pleasure. All the while planting bites and kisses on his ears and  
lips, then across his chin and cheeks and all along his chest.  
  
As he enjoyed the treatment he was receiving, Ranma knew that this could  
not continue indefinitely. "Ryoko" he panted. "You better slow down,  
I'm about to..." He didn't get to finish that sentence before Ryoko  
gave him another passionate kiss to shut him up. As she kissed him she  
worked her way across his body so she could straddle his chest. Leaning  
forward, her long hair came down across his face, tickling his nose.  
Arching her back, she thrust forward her chest so that she could display  
her large assets.  
  
Ranma smiled at what he saw. Without much of a word his lips came down  
on one of them as he applied pressure with his tongue across her nipple.  
Ryoko moaned at the feeling as she cupped his ears; moving his head from  
one breast to another. Ranma in the mean time brought his hands behind  
her as he began to massage her back and rear.  
  
Feeling the fire within her somewhat sated yet burning hotter, Ryoko  
released her hold of Ranma's head as she snaked her way down his chest  
and past his belly button. With a hand along his stiff shaft and the  
other on his sack, she proceeded to rub and massage them further as she  
watched Ranma close his eyes at the contact.  
  
"Oh that feels so good, but you really got to stop. I can't last much  
longer and I still haven't even done you yet." Ryoko merely smirked as  
she heard Ranma's comment. 'That's rather sweet of him, but after last  
night he really deserves this' she thought.  
  
"Ranma" she purred. "I thought I told you to shut up. So just sit back  
and enjoy this and don't worry about me, I'm not going to let you go  
until I've had my way with you first."  
  
Ranma's eyes nearly bugged out as he felt Ryoko plant a warm wet kiss on  
the tip of his head. Bringing her hand back down his shaft she began to  
give him an oral exam as her tongue and teeth proceeded to explore the  
rim of his head and the texture of his penis. Feeling all the while the  
warmth of her mouth as Ryoko engulfed his member, the combined sensation  
of her swirling tongue and massaging fingers caused a tightening within  
his groin.  
  
Ryoko smiled as she felt his release. In an odd sense it gave her a  
heightened sense of pleasure and arousal to know she was giving the man  
she loved a similar feeling, however she was still a woman and she still  
had her needs. Swallowing, she looked up to see Ranma's sweaty brow and  
the look of love in his eyes. She knew he didn't love her just because  
of the sex, but since sex with Ranma was always a mutual experience she  
wasn't one to complain.  
  
"Ready for round two, lover?" her eyes conveyed while the words were  
left unsaid. Ranma merely smirked as he immediately rose to the  
occasion. 'God, I just love how he can just do that' she thought as she  
climbed up to embrace him in her arms.  
  
--- Sometime later, Tendo Living Room ---  
  
"So are you planning to go to school with us today?" inquired Nabiki  
while Ranma was busy drinking his miso soup. The man paused for a  
second as he took in the question.  
  
"You know Nabiki, I wasn't really planning on going back but--" He  
didn't get a chance to finish before Akane interrupted.  
  
"Don't bother you pervert. Why don't you just run off with that hussy  
you have there? I don't even know why dad is letting you even remain in  
this house after what you just did."  
  
"And just what did he do sweetheart?" asked Soun as he held a newspaper  
in front of him--acting none too concerned. Next to him, Genma was in a  
panda version of a body cast as he was being fed pulverized bamboo  
shoots through a straw. Genma would have at least growfed in  
disapproval of his son's actions, however after the savage beating Ranma  
gave him the night before, Genma was no longer in the position to talk.  
  
What had originally started out the previous night as an altercation  
between father and son about sleeping arrangements, soon boiled down to  
an all out fight. Genma didn't want his son dealing with that "slut of  
a woman" as he put it and Ranma didn't take kindly to any man, let alone  
his father calling her that. After demanding that his father apologize,  
the two mule headed men failed to resolve their differences through  
diplomacy. Neglecting to remember that his son was four hundred plus  
years old and probably retained four hundred plus years of martial arts  
skill and training, Genma was ill prepared for the savage beating he  
received.  
  
While using a great amount of skill, dexterity, and control, Ranma was  
able to inflict the most amount of damage and pain onto his father  
without actually killing or crippling him. At the moment, Genma was in  
a body cast to prevent him from further aggravating his condition. His  
body was not damaged in any permanent way, however after being hit along  
a series of nerve clusters, Genma would not be able to move without  
passing out in pain. To make matters worse, it was decided by the  
neighborhood doctor, Tofu Ono that due to the curse, it would be best  
for Genma to stay in his panda form, less the transformation further  
aggravate and stunt the healing process.  
  
Looking at his father and then at Akane, Ranma put on an amused smirk.  
"Don't worry about it Mr. Tendo. Akane here is just upset because she  
walked in on Ryoko and I making love. I guess it has been a while since  
the girl has gotten any. Hey you know what, maybe you should call Kuno,  
Akane. I know he'd be more than willing to 'come' to the occasion." At  
hearing the pun, Akane's face turned red in both anger and  
embarrassment. Her teeth then began to literally grind together, making  
an audible sound as Ranma continued his teasing.  
  
"Oh my Akane" voiced Kasumi in concern. "Is that so? You really  
shouldn't be putting out like that. Not only is it not lady-like but  
you could develop a reputation or worst yet, catch a disease." Nabiki  
and Ryoko just cracked up as Soun developed a demon-head as he began to  
reprimand his daughter for being some kind of strumpet. However, Soun's  
demon-head served only to further enrage the youngest Tendo daughter.  
  
"I am NO STRUMPET!" screamed Akane. "I'm not a hentai" she then added  
quietly. Everyone stopped what they were doing as Akane's face took on  
a color of blue.  
  
"Don't worry daddy, Ranma was just joking. Akane's no strumpet"  
interrupted Nabiki.  
  
Akane in turn looked at her sister with fondness. 'Finally, someone is  
finally supporting me instead of that pervert-Ranma.'  
  
Akane's line of thinking was cut short when Nabiki added. "Yeah, she  
hates boys. She'd never do a thing like that with them."  
  
Soun immediately calmed down when he heard that. "Oh well then, if  
Akane's a lesbian then that's okay." Soun proceeded to read his  
newspaper as if nothing was the matter.  
  
Akane just looked at the smirking Nabiki and then her father in horror.  
'No! I'm not a lesbian' she thought. However, Akane was too tongue  
tied to deny it. By the time she had the words ready to retort, the  
conversation had gone elsewhere.  
  
++++++++++  
  
"So Ranma" Nabiki continued in the meantime. "Are you thinking about  
going to school with us today?"  
  
"Nah" he replied. "I'm in no mood to go to school again and besides,  
I've already gotten a college education." At hearing that, the room's  
interest was piqued.  
  
"Really? Did you have to mail order for your degree or are you talking  
about a reputable university?" Nabiki smirked as Ranma narrowed his  
eyes in annoyance.  
  
"Haha, that's really funny little girl but you'd be surprised at what I  
know and where I've studied." Ranma then eyed her with a stare that  
spoke to her as if daring her to ask where. Knowing Nabiki and how  
curiosity was always her greatest weakness, Nabiki soon fell for his  
trap.  
  
"Okay Einstein, what backwater university did you graduate from or were  
you just bluffing?" Nabiki huffed out her chest as she waited for his  
response with an evil smile. 'Don't try to bluff me Ranma Saotome or  
you're going to get burned' she thought.  
  
However, instead of looking nervous as she had anticipated, Ranma gave  
her an equally malicious smirk. 'Okay little girl, here's going to be a  
lesson in humility' he thought with a hint of amusement. "Well, Nabiki  
I'm not going to bore you with the details of everything I did in the  
past, but in the last 50 years I've done the following."  
  
"During World War Two, I fought for the Americans in Europe, then  
afterwards I traveled back to the United States and used my GI Bill to  
get an education. I decided to get a medical degree after becoming  
interested in modern medical techniques when I became good friends with  
the field medic in my squad."  
  
"When I got back to the states, I used contacts I had gained during my  
extensive travels to get me into the best schools the West had to offer.  
I finally settled on John Hopkins University--one of the worlds leading  
medical institutions. There I studied medicine as well as Eastern  
theology with a minor in philosophy. After I graduated, I sold some of  
my holdings in the United States which amounted to quite a sum and came  
back to Japan to help rebuild the country from the devastation of war."  
  
"Using the capital I brought with me, along with my new medical degree I  
setup a series of clinics to help Japan's population. I also did the  
patriotic thing and invested in Japanese heavy industry during the  
occupation. I still hold initial stock in Mitsubishi, Honda, Isuzu, and  
a few other companies."  
  
"I'm not sure how much those stocks are worth now, especially in lieu of  
Japan's ten years of recession, but the dividends alone still pay for  
everything I could ever want or need. Combine that with my holdings in  
real-estate and other investments I've made across the globe and you're  
talking about some serious capital."  
  
"So I guess what I'm getting at, is not only am I a MD and PhD, but I'm  
so damn rich that I put the Kuno family fortune to shame." Nabiki just  
looked at him as if she were in love. "You know Ranma" she began.  
"Have I ever told you how..." Ranma held his hand up and waved off her  
attempt to flirt.  
  
"Sorry Nabiki but flattery won't get you anywhere. However, whoring me  
like an unscrupulous pimp will." Nabiki looked a bit nervous as Ranma  
gave her an unblinking stare. "Uh.. what are you getting at Ranma" she  
squeaked out.  
  
"Oh, I'm just getting at the fact that you were selling underage  
pornography of me in both my male and female form. I didn't stop you  
then because I felt guilty that my father and I were mooching off your  
family, however I'm here to pay off our debt with interest." As he  
finished talking, he then reached into the folds of his jacket and  
pulled out a blank envelope. Handing it to Nabiki, he watched in  
amusement as she proceeded to open it and look at its contents.  
  
"My god Ranma, what is this for?" asked Nabiki. She was worried at what  
Ranma might do to her, but after looking inside the envelope she was  
more puzzled than worried. Ranma had really changed she noted, this  
Ranma was a lot different from the one she knew just the other day.  
Looking first at the check Ranma had handed to her and then to Ranma  
himself, she couldn't understand why he'd be smiling.  
  
"I bet you're wondering what that is for. Well, it's just something I  
wish to give to you and your family for putting up with me and my old  
man." Ranma watched on as Nabiki sputtered in her reply.  
  
"Bu.. but this is so much. You and your father have only lived here for  
a few months, this is enough to buy a mansion..." Ranma proceeded to  
wave off Nabiki's stuttering.  
  
"Don't worry about it. If anything, it's more of a gift than a  
repayment for a debt. Remember this, although you have on occasions  
made my life here unpleasant, you and the rest of the Tendos gave me a  
home when I never had one before. You were the first thing I could call  
family next to my father, so I feel it's only fair that I give you  
something that best reflects my feelings of gratitude." Nabiki smiled  
widely as she dreamed of what she could do with Ranma's gift. The rest  
of the Tendos looked on puzzled.  
  
"Ranma" Soun began. "Thank you for your gift however it's really too  
much." Ranma just looked at Soun and gave him the same dismissing  
gesture he used before on Nabiki.  
  
"Mr. Tendo, it is merely a paltry sum. As I said earlier, I'm quite  
well off and although the amount I have given you isn't something to  
sneeze at, in comparison to what I spend versus what I make, that gift  
is merely a drop in the bucket so to speak." Soun looked a bit  
hesitant, but with Nabiki constantly nodding her head for him to accept,  
Soun soon gave in.  
  
"Thank you for accepting my gift Mr. Tendo" continued Ranma. "It makes  
me feel good to know that I can give a little back to you and your  
family." Soun just nodded stoically, unsure of how to react to a kind  
and considerate Ranma. As the morning breakfast winded down Ranma got  
up and made a declaration.  
  
"You know what Nabiki? I've decided that I'm going to go to school with  
you today." Before Nabiki or anyone else could ask why, Akane who had  
been slowly sweltering in her anger towards Ranma and Ryoko interrupted.  
  
"No you're not! I'm not going to let you. You're just going to go to  
school so you can show off that whore of a woman and embarrass me."  
  
Ryoko's hair nearly bristled with electricity as her anger built up at  
the comment. She had let Akane get away with a few snide remarks but  
even the easy going Ryoko had her limits. She was clenching her hands  
in preparation of gathering a small amount of energy into her palm--just  
enough she hazard that the pain and damage inflicted would cause the  
youngest Tendo daughter to think twice before mouthing off at Ryoko or  
Ranma again.  
  
However before Ryoko had a chance to manifest her powers, she felt Ranma  
pinch her knee under the table. Turning to face him, she met his light  
smirk as he shook his head--implying that he'd handle things for her.  
Smiling back at him in understanding, she watched and listened with  
satisfaction as Ranma began to berate Akane.  
  
"Akane, her name is NOT whore, it's Ryoko and I want you to apologize to  
her RIGHT now" he said sternly. The expression and aura he conveyed,  
said to the others that for Akane's best interest, she should cede to  
his request with due haste. However, Akane if anything was a proud  
individual and she was not going to bow down to anyone's request-  
-especially one coming from her 'cheating' fiancé.  
  
"Fuck you! I'm not going to apologize to that WHORE or anyone else you  
got that." By now the room had gone deathly quiet as the room's  
occupants watched the silent battle of wills--Akane versus Ranma. Ranma  
continued to stare at her with a mean glare that never faltered even in  
the wake of Akane's harsh words. 'What a pretentious little bitch' he  
thought. 'Prideful, arrogant, and condescending. All good qualities to  
have when in moderation but you, Akane need to be taken down a notch or  
two.'  
  
The two continued to stare daggers at one another for a few more  
unbearable seconds until suddenly Akane finally broke her gaze as she  
became unnerved by Ranma's piercing blue orbs. 'Damnit! Why does that  
asshole have to keep doing this to me!?'  
  
"What are you staring at!?" she finally rebuked. It was the best she  
could come up with but she was not about to give in under the pressure  
and apologize to any woman who dared bed down her fiancé.  
  
"I'm not too sure, but I think I'm staring at a pretentious snot nosed  
punk who doesn't know how to address her elders. That's what I think  
I'm staring at, what do you guys all think?" Ranma said this with an  
even tone, gazing at Akane with a cold indifference in his eyes.  
  
For those at the table, many were too stunned to reply with words  
however all bobbed their heads in unison in their general agreement with  
Ranma's assessment. Akane looked on in shock at the seeming betrayal by  
her family. Turning her head, she caught sight of Ryoko's smug  
expression that caused Akane temper to boil over with renewed anger.  
  
'How dare she laugh at me, that bitch! I'll show her' she silently  
vowed. Looking back at her family, she felt the pangs of their act of  
betrayal in her heart. 'And my own family, how can they take his side  
over mine? I'm their flesh and blood, he's just some tramp we picked up  
off the street.'  
  
"I can't believe you guys" she blurted out as she stared incredulously  
at her family. "How can you be taking his side, I thought we were  
family. He's just some idiot, I'm your daughter, I'm your sister.  
Where's the loyalty in this family?"  
  
At hearing that, the normally emotionally weak Soun Tendo raised his  
voice to his daughter. "Akane!" he all but yelled. "You will not talk  
that way to your family and you will not talk that way to our guests. I  
want you to apologize to Miss Ryoko and Ranma, then I want you to  
apologize to your sisters and I. I will not have this kind of behavior  
in my house."  
  
There was a moment of silence as everyone was stunned to see Soun act  
this authoritative, even Soun himself was surprised with his bold  
behavior. Finally, after what seemed like forever the silence ended  
when Akane's face furled up in clenched rage. Looking at Ranma and  
Ryoko, then back to her family she stood up abruptly, almost knocking  
over the table.  
  
"Fine then, I see how it is!" she cried back to her father as she made  
her way towards the stairs. Akane proceeded to stomp her way up towards  
her room, mirroring her behavior the night before. For those down  
below, they all listened for the eventual opening then slamming shut of  
Akane's bedroom door. A moment of silence passed before someone spoke.  
  
"Well, that went well" remarked Nabiki in a wry tone of voice. Kasumi  
merely said "Oh my!" as she debated between rushing upstairs to comfort  
her sister, or to remain by her father's side as he cried his eyes out.  
  
"Waah! I'm such a bad father. I'm driving my baby-daughter away from  
me. Waah!" Genma would have been there to comfort his old friend,  
however he was stuck in his body cast thus leaving Kasumi the only one  
there to comfort the man.  
  
"There there father" cooed Kasumi. "Akane is just upset. But she'll  
calm down and forgive you. Just wait for her to calm down and go talk  
to her." Soun immediately perked at that.  
  
"Yes, that's right. Akane has always been my little-girl. She'll  
forgive her father once I apologize." Soun was about to bound upstairs  
but Ranma's voice stopped him.  
  
"Mr. Tendo, I suggest that you not do that."  
  
"And why shouldn't he?" asked Nabiki, she was upset at him for bringing  
conflict to her family however she was sensible enough to understand  
that Ranma had a valid reason to reprimand Akane as he did.  
  
"Well, if your father were to rush off right now and give in by  
apologizing, he'll only further encourage Akane's childlike behavior.  
She needs to learn that she can't get away with talking to people like  
that, especially to her own family and especially to strangers."  
  
"But if I don't go up there right now, she might not forgive me" began  
Soun's worried reply. "I don't want my daughter hating me."  
  
Ranma just snorted as he waved off Soun's worries with a brush of his  
hand. "From one father to another, I say you shouldn't worry about it.  
Kids these days tend to go through these stages of rebellion. By  
tomorrow she'll forget all about this and in time she'll grow out of  
this behavior, but if you continue to do things like rushing up to her  
and begging for forgiveness, you're only inviting more trouble both for  
Akane and yourself. Especially in the long run."  
  
"What do you mean?" Soun inquired. The other listeners also wondered  
too; for the Tendos and Genma it was a rare occurrence to hear words of  
wisdom coming from the mouth of someone like Ranma.  
  
"What I'm getting at is if Akane doesn't learn to control her temper,  
you're only going to make it harder for her to interact with the real  
world. Do you think people would take half the shit she said to both  
you or I? And if she isn't careful she might mouth off to someone with  
either the right connections or the power on hand to shut her up  
permanently, if you catch my drift."  
  
"Are you suggesting someone would kill my baby-girl?" Soun replied in a  
worried tone, he was already in tears from his earlier bought of crying.  
  
Nodding. "As a matter of fact yes I am. I know people who'd snap her  
neck for her just looking at them the way she did Ryoko and I. Not only  
would they kill her but they wouldn't even feel an ounce of remorse for  
doing it. Remember Mr. Tendo, Akane has lived a relatively sheltered  
life and for most people that's a perfectly fine way to raise a person,  
but since Akane fancies herself the heir of the Tendo School of Anything  
Goes Martial Arts, she's bound to meet the occasional martial artist  
whose not only powerful but dangerous."  
  
The Tendo patriarch gulped. He was well aware of those types of martial  
artists, many of whom Genma and himself had crossed paths with while  
under the training of their 'Dreaded Master.' Now years later and  
thinking about how scared he was of them and the reasons why, he  
realized the truth in Ranma's words.  
  
"I see your point" he finally said. The two remaining Tendo daughters  
weren't sure exactly what would spook their father so easily, but they  
fathomed that there were martial artists out there who'd make anything  
they had seen Ranma do already pale in comparison. They too gulped in  
slight fear and apprehension.  
  
"What do you think I should do then?" asked Soun when enough time  
passed, allowing him to get over the shock of imagining his daughter's  
death at the hands of some merciless Dojo Destroyer or her crying at the  
loss of her boyfriend or job.  
  
"Well Mr. Tendo, ultimately it's up to you but if I were in your place,  
I'd send her to military boot camp. Preferably to one of those hardcore  
Russian boot camps run by former Soviet Commandos in the freezing  
forests of Siberia." Eyes immediately bulged as they heard this.  
  
"You got to be kidding" Nabiki blurted out.  
  
Ranma merely shook his head. "Sorry, no joke. I meant every word of  
it. Akane is simply too old for us to just tell her that her behavior  
is wrong, her belief that she's superior to others is just too deeply  
ingrained in her psyche. In my experience, I found that the best way to  
deal with people like her is to break them both physically and mentally.  
Then build them back up--it's a common practice in military training."  
  
Soun looked sternly at Ranma. "I can't do that to her, she's just a  
girl and she'll hate me if I do that."  
  
Ranma just shrugged. "Hey, I told you it's only an idea and that the  
decision was up to you. But if you're not game for that, how about I  
just take her out on some weekly training trips. After I put her in her  
paces, she'll understand just how out of shape she really is and just  
how far her skills lag behind her closest rivals. Hopefully the  
experience will humble her enough that she'll become a better person  
because of it."  
  
Soun nodded at this. "I like this second idea of yours, you don't mind  
doing it do you?" Ranma merely shook his head. "Good then, um, and if  
it's not too much trouble, perhaps you could bring that heir of yours  
along as well. I believe you said his name was Tenchi wasn't it?"  
  
'Feh, always you and that dream of yours isn't Tendo?' Ranma thought as  
he smiled at him. "Sure, I wouldn't mind bringing Tenchi, however I'll  
probably be bringing a few other people along with me as well. Hey, how  
about I bring him here to meet Kasumi and Nabiki, I'm sure you two girls  
will like him." The glint in Ranma's eye as he said this sent a slight  
shiver of thrill and fear into each girl, Soun was just grinning ear to  
ear as he envisioned the future of his school being secured.  
  
Genma just growfed in general disapproval, but given his lack of  
mobility, he couldn't sign out that he thought that Ranma should knock  
off this nonsense and just marry Akane. Despite what had just  
transpired now and the night before, the Saotome patriarch was as  
stubborn as he was stupid, forgetting completely that he was in a body  
cast because his son failed to see eye to eye with him on this very  
subject.  
  
--- On the Way to Furinkan ---  
  
"So Ranma, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" inquired Nabiki.  
Ranma didn't even turn to face her as he said yes. Next to him and on  
the opposite side of Nabiki, Ryoko walked with her head resting against  
his shoulder, her arm wrapped around his.  
  
"Okay then" continued Nabiki. "Could you tell me the real reason why  
you're being so harsh to my sister?" Nabiki kept her cool façade as she  
waited for his answer. Around her the citizens of Nerima were going  
about their morning rituals as Nabiki waited patiently for Ranma's  
response. She didn't have to wait long before a reply came.  
  
"A good question. I suppose I'm being a bit harsh with her because of a  
number of reasons. One, she's a snot nosed brat. Two, she was being  
rude to Ryoko here and when it comes to her I don't tolerate that kind  
of crap from no one. Three, despite having problems with Akane's  
attitude and behavior, I still like the girl. She reminds me a little  
of myself at that age: proud, arrogant, and condescending. God I can  
only imagine what an ass I was back then," he said with a slight laugh  
at the end, his head still faced the straight path of the sidewalk ahead  
of them.  
  
Nabiki looked towards Ranma with a puzzled expression. 'Ranma admitting  
that he's rude and arrogant. Has the world gone mad?' Despite her  
surprise, she repressed the urge to face fault as the trio continued  
walking. Eventually, Ranma continued to elaborate further why he said  
what he said.  
  
"Yeah, I was a real punk back then. It's no wonder Akane treated me the  
way she did, however when I think back to it, she was no saint either.  
I'm not saying that I'm one now, far from it but I'm sure you'll cede  
that I have a few more years of experience under my belt to merit the  
claim that Akane was heading towards a path of destruction if her temper  
wasn't curbed."  
  
"You really think that?" Nabiki asked, she wasn't entirely convinced  
that Ranma had Akane's best intentions in mind. However, she wasn't  
above herself to completely ignore or discount the words of this older  
and possibly wiser Ranma.  
  
"I believe so, though nothing in life is absolutely certain. Akane may  
learn on her own to curb her temper, she may be able to have a happy  
life where the things I predict might never happen. But.. there is also  
the possibility that she won't. That in a year or two, she'll head off  
towards college and she'll meet people who won't share her outlook on  
life and who won't give a damn about her if she acts like a stuck up  
princess."  
  
"Akane is a good girl at heart, she wouldn't be so popular and well  
liked if she wasn't. However, she has an over inflated ego that is too  
hollow to support what she believes is true about herself. When she  
goes out into the real world, she'll meet people or see things that  
might not fit well with her perception of herself and her standing in  
the world at large."  
  
"A good analogy would be to compare Akane to imperial China during the  
Ming and Qing dynasties. Like China, she believes herself to be the  
center of the world, which might prove true to a certain extent, but as  
history has shown us, that kind of narrow-minded attitude left China  
open to foreign incursion and conquest. When people come along with  
ideas that are new and sometimes better, Akane's arrogance and  
stubbornness will keep her blind to accept them as fact and adapt like  
the doctrine of Anything Goes says she should. In time, Akane will be  
like China before the revolution: weak, broken, and at odds with  
herself."  
  
"One good thing going for her though is she has accepted that she is no  
longer the best martial artist in Nerima, but it was something that took  
a long time for her to concede and even now she doesn't truly believe  
it. She's still too proud and she over inflates her skills. How many  
times have you seen your sister rush off to fight a battle she can't  
possibly win? I or someone else might not always be there to rescue her  
when she does so again."  
  
There was an eerie silence that pervaded through the air as the trio  
continued walking. Only the sounds of their footsteps and the  
occasional sound of morning birds chirping could be heard. As they  
neared greater avenues of traffic, the soft mumbling of students ahead  
could be heard along with the occasional car.  
  
Nabiki broke the moments of silence as she faced Ranma again. "Thank  
you" she said simply. Ranma merely smiled.  
  
"You don't need to thank me Nabiki, I'm just doing what is right.  
Nothing more." As he said that, Ryoko nestled up closer to Ranma  
causing Nabiki to furl her brow in annoyance.  
  
"Um.. so Ranma" Nabiki began in the wake of more silence. "Why is it  
you've decided to visit Furinkan today? I thought you made it clear  
that you don't need the education." Nabiki felt the pangs of jealousy  
as she asked that, her eyes darting quick glances at Ryoko as she  
wondered how one woman was able to claim such a renowned womanizer as  
her own.  
  
Unbeknownst to Nabiki, Ranma felt the slight disruption of her ki flow  
that hinted a little of the feelings she was harboring towards him.  
Ignoring it with a smirk he replied to her offhandedly. "Well aside  
from doing as Akane said and showing off Ryoko here, I'm also going to  
at least say goodbye to my friends at Furinkan. It would be rather rude  
of me to just up and leave without at least saying goodbye.  
Furthermore, I don't like the idea of Kuno claiming victory with my  
disappearance. I mean, since I'm already here I might as well leave on  
amicable terms with him."  
  
Nabiki just looked at Ranma as if he grew a second head. 'Showing off  
Ryoko... Leaving on amicable terms?' she thought. This was definitely  
not the Ranma she once knew. Sobering up as they approached the gates  
of Furinkan, she was stopped by Ranma's hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Nabiki" he said with a serious note in his tone. "I hope it's  
understood that what I've said so far be kept out of the rumor mill. I  
didn't just give you a small fortune because I'm being generous. That's  
also a payoff to keep quiet. Do you understand?"  
  
Nabiki just smiled as she answered him. "But of course Ranma. Your  
secret is safe with me." She proceeded to run her fingers across her  
lips as if zipping them shut. Ranma just eyed her and gave her one last  
warning.  
  
"Good, however another word of warning. I suggest you get out of the  
habit of gathering information about people. It might be lucrative and  
it might be fun and exciting, but I've seen what happens to a person who  
upsets the wrong sort of people. Trust me Nabiki, it's not pretty. So  
if you ever need my help don't hesitate the contact me." Ranma  
proceeded to pull out a paper business card from within an inner pocket  
of his coat.  
  
Nabiki proceeded to look at it and flip it over. 'Just a phone number?'  
she thought. Looking at Ranma she just saw him nod as if answering her  
unsaid question. While pocketing the card, Nabiki headed off to conduct  
her morning rituals of information gathering and loan sharking. Ranma  
in turn headed off with Ryoko towards the main building, preparing to  
provide the paper work necessary to retract Ranma from the student body.  
  
As the two neared the center of the courtyard, Kuno appeared. "Halt  
there Foul Sorcerer and face the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High."  
Lighting thundered off in the distance, causing a large crow to be  
electrocuted and fall dead to the ground, landing atop of Kuno's head.  
  
Looking at Kuno and then the smoldering piece of black feathers atop of  
his head, Ranma, Ryoko, and the rest of the assembled student body  
started laughing. Despite the comical scene, Kuno was non too amused.  
  
"You dare laugh at my noble personage?" he barked. Ranma just nodded  
his head, which enraged Kuno further. Lifting his bokken high into the  
air, he screamed out his battle cry. "For your insult I shall smite  
thee."  
  
Seeing Kuno run towards Ranma, Ryoko tensed up and was prepared to  
engage her energy sword. However a nudge from Ranma and the shaking of  
his head told her not too. Realizing that she had overreacted again,  
Ryoko blushed and walked off to the side to watch Ranma in his fight  
with Kuno.  
  
While Kuno charged, Ranma stood motionless as he stared down the  
kendoist. As the seconds passed, the crowd grew anxious at what Ranma  
would do next.  
  
"Is he crazy?" one student asked. "He's going to get creamed if he  
doesn't move."  
  
Another student answered the other. "Don't be such a non-believer.  
Haven't you ever seen a kung-fu movie? Whenever the badass martial  
artist is about to do something hella cool, he'll just stand there and  
wait till the last second before he acts. I betcha that Ranma has  
something really awesome planned." Other students proceeded to nod or  
shake their heads as bets were made on Ranma's next move.  
  
While the seconds passed in slow succession, Kuno's approach to his  
target grew closer and closer. As Kuno got in range to attack with his  
bokken, all watched in horror or in awe as Kuno brought it down on an  
unmoving Ranma.  
  
--- End of Chapter ---  
  
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to  
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.  
  
Q1. Why did I change the scene with Ryoko threatening Akane?  
  
A1. I did so because as pointed out by a critic, it was somewhat out of  
character with how Ryoko usually deals with people. Normally, Ryoko  
would either ignore the threat or just blast it. She wouldn't get  
overly emotional unless it involved a serious threat to say Ranma or  
some else she really cares for. 


	5. Ch 04 Pasts Revealed Ukyo's Story

Echoes in Time (v1.04, 05/17/03)  
  
Chapter 4: Pasts Revealed - Ukyo's Story  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,  
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz  
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima  
Masaki. The characters of Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All  
other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by their respective  
owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free entertainment  
purposes only. No compensation has been or will be received.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Note to Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story  
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds  
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning  
home.  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---  
  
Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen stood at the gates of Furinkan High as he  
waited patiently for the arrival of his fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and  
his equally lovely but also mysterious, Pigtailed Girl. That particular  
morning he was in high spirits, for the long weekend had proven to be  
just what he needed in renewing his desire for the two women. With born  
anew fervor, he practiced his Kendo katas and poetry in anxious  
anticipation of the eventual arrival of his two ladyloves. It was  
during all this that he caught sight of his most hated foe--one Ranma  
Saotome.  
  
'The knave!' he thought. 'He dare arrive without the lovely Akane  
Tendo? Unforgivable! For without her, how can I show my love if she is  
not here to witness my righteous victory over..? But wait! Her absence  
must surely mean that she has finally broken free of that Foul  
Sorcerer's black magic.' As Kuno thought this, he failed to notice the  
differences in Ranma's appearance; differences that would have told him  
that he shouldn't charge on blindly into battle.  
  
"Foul Sorcerer! Halt and face the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" he  
yelled. His battle cry caught the attention of surrounding students who  
all quickly swarmed together to form a circle around the two combatants.  
As the crowd waited anxious to see the fight, many wondered where Akane  
was and more importantly, what Ranma's relation was to the beautiful  
woman who had accompanied him.  
  
As the two neared the center of the courtyard, Kuno appeared. "Halt  
there Foul Sorcerer and face the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High."  
Lightning thundered off in the distance, causing a large crow to be  
electrocuted and fall dead atop of Kuno's head.  
  
Looking at Kuno and then the smoldering piece of black feathers resting  
on top of his scalp, Ranma, Ryoko, and the rest of the assembled student  
body started laughing. Despite the comical scene, Kuno was non too  
amused.  
  
"You dare laugh at my noble personage?" he barked. Ranma just nodded  
his head, an act that further enraged Kuno. While, lifting his bokken  
high into the air, he screamed out his battle cry. "For your insult and  
for the love of the fierce tigress, Akane Tendo and the lovely,  
Pigtailed Girl I shall smite thee."  
  
Seeing Kuno run towards Ranma, Ryoko tensed up and was prepared to  
engage her energy sword. However a nudge from Ranma and the shaking of  
his head told her not too. Realizing that she had overreacted again,  
Ryoko blushed and walked off to the side to watch Ranma in his fight  
with Kuno.  
  
As Kuno charged, Ranma stood there motionlessly; the passing seconds  
giving Kuno more and more time to bridge the gap between the two.  
  
"Is he crazy?" one student asked. "He's going to get creamed if he  
doesn't move."  
  
Another student answered the other. "Don't be such a non-believer.  
Haven't you ever seen a kung-fu movie? Whenever the badass martial  
artist is about to do something hella cool, he'll just stand there and  
wait till the last second before he acts. I betcha that Ranma has  
something really awesome planned." Other students proceeded to nod or  
shake their heads as bets were being placed on Ranma's next move.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Second after second passed and still Ranma had not moved. Finally it  
came to the point that the two were within range of Kuno's bokken.  
Kuno, seeing that his opponent was frozen in obvious fear of his battle  
prowess, raised his bokken high into the air, preparing to bring it down  
upon his foe--slicing him in two.  
  
*Swish*  
  
'What!? How could I have missed?' wondered Kuno as he ended his strike,  
having hit nothing but air. 'I clearly cleaved him with my righteous  
blade' he continued thinking. 'Surely he should be dead at my feet.'  
As Kuno stood there contemplating what foul sorcery must have been in  
use to deceive such a noble samurai as himself, his temper finally hit  
its breaking point as he came to an ill-conceived conclusion. Striking  
a pose to the heavens, he yelled out for all to hear.  
  
"Foul Sorcerer!" he cried. "You dare run away from the Mighty Blue  
Thunder. I demand that you show yourself now you un-honorable dog, so  
that you can face heaven's wrath." As he said that he was met by an  
annoyed voice.  
  
"I didn't run anywhere you dip shit. If you bothered to use your eyes  
and look around, you would have realized I sidestepped your attack."  
Kuno turned towards the direction of the voice and came face to face to  
a frowning Ranma. 'Quite odd, he seems taller' thought Kuno just before  
his world turned black.  
  
As Kuno's head slowly turned to face Ranma, he was met with a blinding  
fast three hit combo. Beginning with a front leg round kick, Ranma  
knocked the air from Kuno's lungs. In the same fluid motion, he twisted  
his hips and delivered a sharp low round kick to the back of Kuno's  
knees--dropping the kendoist in a disheveled heap.  
  
While Kuno's broken body started falling face forward, he was yanked  
back hard as Ranma gripped the locks of Kuno's curly hair. Without much  
flare or ceremony, Ranma then delivered a two-finger strike to the base  
of Kuno's skull. Then in a blur, he ran the same hand down Kuno's  
spine, hitting various pressure points and nerve endings as he  
progressed downward.  
  
After hitting the first series of nerve endings, Kuno let off a pitiful  
girlish cry; yelping as his body reacted to Ranma's ministrations. As  
his body flared in pain, he first dropped his bokken. Then as if by  
clockwork, the hands that were clutching his abdomen then made a series  
of unnatural jerking motions. First he moved the shoulders, then his  
elbows and wrists, finally leaving his arms flung out and away from his  
body in an airplane formation.  
  
With his arms out and locked in their current position, Ranma then  
shifted his weight and delivered a powerful knee to Kuno's back; causing  
the Blue Thunder to fall face forward into the payment.  
  
Still holding firm to Kuno's hair, Ranma then adjusted his hold and  
placed the majority of his weight into slamming Kuno's head into the  
asphalt. With a sickening crunch, Kuno's face was crushed into a bloody  
mass as the combined weight of himself and Ranma came down onto it.  
  
As the crowd watched in sick fascination, Ranma proceeded to pull Kuno's  
head out of the crater it had made. To the crowd, they could no longer  
tell where skin met flesh as Kuno's face was a mass of peppered asphalt,  
broken teeth and bones, and oozing blood.  
  
"Had enough of my foul sorcery?" asked Ranma in a cold tone, staring  
straight at Kuno's last good eye. Some of the girls and boys watching  
gave off a shiver in fright as they heard this. While the crowd's gazes  
shifted from Ranma to Kuno, they let out a gasp of horror as they got a  
better look of the damage done.  
  
Kuno's head was a bloody mess. It was obvious his nose had been broken  
and possibly his jaw. When the boy opened his mouth, all that could be  
seen were bloody teeth--a majority of which had been spit up as they  
came loose during the impact. Looking down and in front of the fallen  
Kendoist, they saw a small piece of pink flesh--a piece of tongue that  
had been bitten off.  
  
Kuno, with his teeth missing and his nose broken, attempted to reply  
back to Ranma's inquiry. To those who were close enough, it sounded as  
if he said "I fight on" though none could be too sure because of the  
mass of blood that gurgled at the back of his throat. Combine that with  
his missing piece of tongue and it was questionable whether he said  
anything at all.  
  
While the assembled crowd looked on with shocked eyes at how brutally  
Ranma put down the once mighty Blue Thunder, Ranma seemed to whisper  
something into his ear.  
  
"Wrong answer" said Ranma as he slammed Kuno's head back into the broken  
concrete. Kuno failed to move while Ranma proceeded to get up and dust  
himself off; acting as if nothing was unusual. As Kuno's blood poured  
forth from his nose, mouth, and his various cuts, Nabiki came running up  
towards Ranma--shouting and yelling at him for what he'd done.  
  
"Ranma!" she screamed. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I  
thought you were going to leave on amicable terms. You probably just  
killed Kuno." To that, Ranma only shrugged his shoulder in  
indifference. Looking back at Kuno's broken body, Ranma could only  
mumble a lame apology.  
  
"I guess you're right. Oh well." Ranma proceed to turn around and away  
from the stunned Nabiki, walking through the mass of students as they  
parted to make way for him. Looking at Ryoko who seemed indifferent to  
all this, he gave her a signal for her to follow. While the crowd began  
to thin in the wake of the one sided fight, the school bell began to  
ring.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Ranma shook his head as he ran through the possible scenarios for  
dealing with Kuno. Killing him was an option, the fact that Kuno would  
be attacking him with a weapon gave him cause enough to at least defend  
himself by "accidentally" striking the Kendoist in the jugular and  
collapsing his windpipe. Given that the act was in self-defense, he  
could reason in any court of law that Kuno got what he deserved.  
  
However, killing such a weak opponent left him feeling at odds with  
himself. He had no qualms with killing in general, he had done it  
enough times in his long life to no longer be bothered by it. In his  
mind, as long as the death was for the right reasons then he wouldn't  
lose any sleep over it.  
  
But killing Kuno was different. It was akin to being a bully, it was  
something that in his mind was un-honorable and no matter how good it  
might make him feel to just lay into him, there was still the sense of  
civility that he strove to maintain. No, killing Kuno was out of the  
question, but what could he do?  
  
Then inspiration struck, quite literally in fact.  
  
*Thwack*  
  
Ranma felt something hit him atop of his head. It felt like a mosquito  
bite, but given all the strength and pain endurance training he had been  
through that mosquito could have been a flying bullet for all he knew.  
  
Breaking out of his thinking, he realized who it was. 'Kuno' he  
thought. He should have realized the Kendoist wouldn't hesitate to  
strike him down while he wasn't looking. 'No matter' he thought. 'Now  
that his stick is broken, I can use this 'tact' thing everyone keeps  
raving about.' Ranma was preparing to negotiate some peaceful resolve  
to this conflict when Kuno spoke.  
  
"Foul Demon!" shouted Kuno. "What black magic have you conjured to  
render my righteous blade so?" Kuno proceeded to raise the broken butt  
of his bokken, the other half having clattered to the ground when it  
made contact with Ranma's head.  
  
Ranma just looked at Kuno and rolled his eyes. 'Geez, what a cry baby'  
he thought. "Don't worry Kuno, you can be rest assured that I only used  
the most foulest of black magic against you."  
  
Kuno seemed to take pause as he heard this. "Ha!" he suddenly  
exclaimed. "That goes without question, for only the most vile of  
sorcery could ever oppose such a noble samurai as myself. But now you  
finally admit your demonic origins Foul Sorcerer?"  
  
Ranma just shrugged. "Yeah, I'm a Foul Sorcerer but I'm no demon."  
Jerking a thumb towards Ryoko he continued. "Now her, she's a demon."  
Eyes adverted to look at Ryoko who just stood there and shrugged and  
nodded her head slightly. Most of the crowd didn't believe what Ranma  
was saying, but that didn't mean Kuno didn't or at least Kuno didn't  
fail to believe the Foul Sorcerer part.  
  
"You lie!" he cried. "No lovely flower such as her could possibly be of  
demonic origins." Kuno just looked at Ryoko with an appraising eye,  
Ranma in turn narrowed his brow in slight anger.  
  
"Oh, you think so Kuno" began Ranma. "Then how the hell do you think I  
became a Foul Sorcerer in the first place? I sure wasn't born that way.  
I'd be careful around her, she'd eat your soul and you wouldn't even  
know it. I on the other hand made a pact with her. You know, she  
grants me evil powers to make rough the lives of noble samurai such as  
yourself and she spares my soul but gets the soul's of all the lovely  
women whom I ensnare. Quite a sweet deal."  
  
Kuno looked at Ranma and then Ryoko with a disgusted expression. 'Could  
it be, that lovely flower is what the Foul Saotome claims her to be?' he  
thought. The idea seemed preposterous but given Saotome's own  
admittance to being a foul agent of hell, it wasn't a big leap in Kuno's  
mind to assume that that woman was the succubus-demonic spawn that first  
contorted Saotome's heart to evil.  
  
"You there!" he snarled as he pointed the remnants of his bokken at  
Ryoko. "It is clear that you are the true evil here. Now prepare  
yourself and face the righteous might of the Blue Thunder of Furinkan  
High!" Kuno was about to charge with his broken bokken when Ranma  
placed a firm hold on Kuno's shoulder.  
  
"Unhand me knave!" yelled Kuno. He then let off a girlish scream when  
Ranma started applying greater strength to his grip. "Cool it Kuno"  
said Ranma. "We're not here to fight so you can put away that broken  
stick of yours."  
  
Kuno looked puzzled at this. 'The Foul Demon doth not wish to fight?'  
The idea seemed as equally as preposterous as Ryoko being a demon  
succubus, however this was Kuno we're talking about.  
  
"Aha!" he exclaimed. "You must now wish not to fight for you have  
obviously realized my superior personage and prowess and thus are here  
to beg for mercy. But I, the Blue Thunder..." Kuno was unable to  
finish this statement when Ranma interrupted.  
  
"Oh shut the hell up and listen to what we got to say." Kuno was about  
to retort to that but Ranma applied more pressure to Kuno's shoulder,  
dropping the boy to his knees.  
  
"Good" Ranma continued. "Now here is the deal. I Ranma Saotome, aka.  
Foul Sorcerer, come before the assembled students of Furinkan High to  
let all know that I have hereby relinquished my hold on the fair and  
lovely, fierce tigress, Akane Tendo."  
  
The crowd gasped at Ranma's proclamation. 'Could it be?' some of the  
male members of the crowd thought. 'She is now free to date with one of  
us.' Ranma proceeded to acknowledge the unsaid queries.  
  
"My engagement to Akane Tendo has been absolved as I am now taken by Ms.  
Demon over there." Ryoko proceeded to wave amicably at those members of  
the crowd who dared look at her direction. The image she projected was  
far from the demonic hell spawn that the word demon implied; however,  
most of the crowd assumed that Ranma was merely joking with Kuno anyway.  
  
"Anyway, I've 'freed' Akane from my black magic. So if you want to ask  
her out on a date, you can. I suggest that you treat her like any  
normal girl and be nice to her. If you ask her out and she likes you,  
she might just say yes. However, don't expect to win a date from her by  
trying to beat her up in a fight. I guarantee that if I find out that  
you guys are still doing that, I'm going to come back here and track  
down each and every one of you and hit your 'latent-homosexuality'  
pressure point."  
  
"Then I'm going to throw your gay asses into the 'Blue Oyster'(1) bar.  
When the pressure point wears off, you'll definitely be feeling it in  
the rear come morning." Ranma waited as his proclamation sunk into the  
group's psyche.  
  
For Kuno, he heard nothing past the part of "I've freed Akane." 'Could  
it be?' thought Kuno upon hearing this. 'Akane Tendo finally free of  
the wretched Saotome? But alas, what of my Pigtailed Goddess?'  
  
"Foul Sorcerer!" Kuno announced. "I demand that you also relinquish  
your hold over the Pigtailed Girl." Ranma merely snorted as he had  
anticipated such a response.  
  
"Sorry Kuno, no can do." Kuno was about to try bashing Ranma when the  
pigtailed man furthered. "I would love to relinquish my hold over your  
lovely Pigtailed Girl however the Pigtailed Girl is no more."  
  
Kuno looked like he would go into shock. "The Pigtailed Girl, no more?"  
he gasped. "You must surely jest."  
  
Ranma just shook his head in response. "Sorry Kuno, she's gone, no  
more, dead to the world." Kuno looked like he was ready to cry, but in  
an act of unexpected strength, he broke free of Ranma's grip and turned  
blurry eyed at Ranma, grabbing the lapels of Ranma's jacket.  
  
"Tell me, Foul Sorcerer. Tell me what has befallen my Pigtailed Girl"  
Kuno shouted. Ranma in turn looked rather annoyed at the physical  
contact. In a swift and smooth motion, Ranma proceeded to use his right  
hand, to grasp a hold of Kunos own right.  
  
With his thumb over his thumb, he grabbed onto Kuno's wrist and twisted.  
The move took less than a second, and Kuno found himself twirled around  
as his hold on Ranma was broken. Furthermore, he now found himself in  
an unbreakable arm lock as his right arm was extended out and his wrist  
twisted in such a way, that to struggle would result in his wrist and  
elbow being broken against the joint.  
  
Despite this, Kuno attempted to struggle free. "Ah!" he screamed.  
Ranma started to apply pressure as he saw Kuno would not submit to the  
hold. The minute amount of pressure applied to Kuno's wrist created  
enough pain that it dropped Kuno to his knees.  
  
"I suggest you calm down before I break your arm" spoke Ranma in a calm  
voice. Kuno just twisted his head and gave Ranma an angry scowl. He  
would not admit defeat but he could not deny that to struggle further  
was futile. Seeing that Kuno was relaxing, Ranma proceeded to release  
some of the pressure he put on Kuno, yet not releasing his hold on him.  
  
"Okay Kuno, if you agree to just hear me out and not talk or act, I'll  
tell you what happened to your Pigtailed Girl. After that you can do  
anything you want." Kuno just nodded his head at Ranma's words. Seeing  
that Kuno was going to comply, Ranma released him as he began to spin a  
tall tale of what befell his girl half.  
  
"Kuno, it saddens me to say that the Pigtail Girl will not be coming  
back. It was during the long weekend that she met with tragedy. For  
you see, my most hated nemesis, a sorcerer who practices in black magic  
so dark that even I would not dare dabble in. He.. he ambushed the  
defenseless Pigtailed Girl and raped and killed her; possibly doing so  
not in that order."  
  
"When we found her bloody body, it was a sickening sight. To spare  
others from seeing what had befallen such a lovely flower, we had her  
remains cremated and her ashes sprinkled out over the ocean during the  
funeral services held during the weekend. It was a rather beautiful  
ceremony, there were..."  
  
Ranma was cut off from his last bit of rambling by the sound of Kuno's  
wails. "Oh the Heaven's doth weep for the loss of one of their own" he  
cried. Turning abruptly towards Ranma he added. "Saotome! Tell me,  
tell me who dared do such a despicable act so that I, the Blue Thunder  
can bring them to justice."  
  
Ranma was grinning inwardly at how well he was playing the chump. "Oh  
Kuno" Ranma began in a melodramatic tone. "You mustn't go fight him.  
He is too evil, too devious for even the most noble of samurai. It was  
in the wake of his evil that I realized the folly of my chosen path and  
so after today, I am to leave Nerima to seek atonement and purification  
at a remote shrine."  
  
Kuno proceeded to eat up every single word. "It is good that you seek  
atonement for your sins, but you must tell me who has committed this  
heinous crime. For the memory of the Pigtailed Girl, her death must be  
avenged." Kuno proceeded to strike a pose as thunder sounded off into  
the distance.  
  
As Kuno stood there, Ranma had met a dilemma. 'Who to implicate?' He  
had briefly thought about blaming this on his student, Happossai,  
perhaps giving the pervert something more to do than simply grope women  
and steal their underwear. With Ranma no longer around to keep the old  
man busy, either by thwarting Happossai's various attempts to sneak into  
the girl's locker room or raiding the local lingerie shop, Ranma as a  
responsible sensei needed to provide his first and oldest student with a  
proper nemesis to keep him lively and active while in old age.  
  
Seeing Kuno heave in rage as he waited for Ranma's answer, the  
Grandmaster of Anything Goes inwardly smirked as he saw the proper  
'training buddy' to assign his old friend. An idle thought then passed  
onto his quasi-friend/nemesis, Ryoga Hibiki. The eternally lost boy  
would be out of a rival and a sense of purpose in life, since the Ranma  
he knew, had advanced so far in the art that a fight between the two  
would no longer even be considered a challenge; instead, in an all out  
fight, Ryoga would be slaughtered and Ranma neither had the time nor  
patience to deal with an opponent at such a lower level.  
  
However, Kuno on the other hand wasn't half bad and given his  
persistence and provided a little subtle training by Happossai, the  
self-named "Blue Thunder" could prove an adequate replacement for Ranma  
once he left Nerima. A grin came to his lips as a plan formulated in  
his head.  
  
"Oh Noble Kuno," Ranma began. "If you truly wish to avenge the  
Pigtailed Girl then you must listen carefully for what I am about say.  
The evil you are about to fight comes in two, a master and an  
apprentice."  
  
"The student of this evil master is a Ryoga Hibiki, a scoundrel of a  
man. He is yay tall and wears a spotted yellow bandana and carries with  
him a large red umbrella. Be weary of him for he is known to change  
shapes, it is rumored that he transforms into a small black piglet whom  
he has tricked the naïve Akane Tendo into thinking is her pet, P-Chan.  
If you ever see Akane in a company of such a creature, you must destroy  
it at all cost, for it is only in his transformed state that he is  
vulnerable."  
  
"The master of Hibiki is a perverted old man of both the martial and  
magical arts. Though his true name is not known, he goes by Happossai.  
He often frequents the halls of Furikan, carrying a sack filled with  
women undergarments. He often comes to this school to spy on the girls  
in the locker room--either to spy and ogle their young nubile bodies or  
to grope them and later steal their bras and panties. In any case, you  
must thwart him in these endeavors at every turn, for he draws his  
demonic powers from touching the flesh or undergarments of young women  
and girls."  
  
"If you can deny this master of these things, he can be sufficiently  
weakened enough for you to defeat him. Otherwise, if you attempt to  
fight him head on, you will lose. Just as I have on numerous  
occasions."  
  
This final admittance of his own inability in the past to defeat  
Happossai helped add the last element of legitimacy to hook Kuno's  
warped mind into believe such a tale. Also given that Kuno was  
predisposed to fairy tale fallacy, it wasn't hard to convince him to  
accept everything he had just said at face value.  
  
"Thank you Saotome for your assistance" began Kuno after Ranma had  
finished. "Know that the Pigtailed Girl's memory shall be avenged, for  
heaven's justice is swift and sure." Ranma just kept up the act as he  
watched Kuno rush off towards god knows where. As soon as Kuno was out  
of sight and earshot, Ranma proceeded to break up into loud laughter as  
he made his way towards Ryoko.  
  
From within the crowd, Nabiki made her way up to him. "Ranma!" she  
exclaimed. "What the hell was that about!?" Ranma looked at her and  
smirked.  
  
"Oh that" he began. "That was my attempt at being amicable." Nabiki  
narrowed her eyes as he said this.  
  
"Amicable!" she exclaimed. "You just sent Kuno on a fool's quest. What  
do you think Ryoga and Happossai are going to do to him when he starts  
spouting 'Foul Sorcerer' at them?"  
  
Ranma didn't pause in his answer. "What I did to Kuno, Happossai, and  
Ryoga... that was all intentional. Remember, I'm not going to stay in  
Nerima forever. Once I'm gone, no one is going to be here to stop  
Happossai. And while Ryoga would probably be a better choice to handle  
the pervert, do you honestly think Ryoga would stand a chance given his  
sense of direction or the fact that he'd pass out at the first sight of  
female flesh?"  
  
Nabiki just stopped as Ranma continued walking towards Ryoko. She was  
unsure how to respond to that as she stood there amongst the mass of  
students, watching while Ranma motioned for Ryoko to follow him towards  
the main building. Just then the morning bell rang.  
  
--- Ranma's Classroom ---  
  
"Mr. Saotome, you're late again" barked Mr. Ishikawa, the classes'  
balding, middle-aged homeroom teacher. The teacher gave Ranma a smug  
look, ever since Ranma Saotome had come to Furinkan, the boy had been  
late every single day. That infuriated the teacher to no end.  
  
'Just because he's the star of the school's athletic program and has all  
those girls chasing after him, he thinks he can just shirk his  
responsibilities' thought the teacher.  
  
The man was bitter to say the least. He had come into teaching because  
he thought he could make a difference. However, years of indifferent  
students, combined with his failing marriage left him resenting people  
like Ranma. People who without any effort were able to achieve so much,  
receive so much, and get by on so little. So it was days like this,  
where he could exert his power over such students that he got his  
thrills.  
  
Mr. Ishikawa was about to order Ranma and his attractive companion  
outside to hold buckets, when Ranma stopped him with an answer. "Oh,  
I'm sorry for being late Sensei. However, I was just too busy  
contemplating beating Kuno within an inch of his life. I then thought  
about doing the same to any other person who looked at me cock-eyed, but  
I knew how important it was to get here for class. I hope you  
understand."  
  
Ranma's response wasn't much of an answer, however it served its desired  
effect. With that answer, combined with how he looked at Mr. Ishikawa  
and how callously he had said it, the teacher decided that it was not  
within the best interest of his health to order Ranma or his friend out.  
  
Giving Ranma a mumbled "Okay" Ranma smirked as he proceeded to walk  
towards his assigned seat. Ryoko followed close behind and sat in the  
chair normally reserved for Akane Tendo.  
  
--- Lunch Time ---  
  
"Ranma, where's Akane and whose your friend?" asked Sayuri, one of  
Akane's friends. Ranma for his part couldn't remember her name, but  
nevertheless answered.  
  
"Oh, Akane is sick and this is Ryoko." Ryoko proceeded to say "Hi" to  
Akane's gathered friends. As the introductions and greetings were  
finished, one of Akane's other friends, Yuka interrupted.  
  
"Ranma?" she queried. "Is it true that you're a foul sorcerer and that  
Ryoko here is the demon succubus that transformed your heart to evil?"  
Yuka sounded silly saying it, but after watching Ranma's performance she  
wasn't sure. 'His acting skills were never that good before' she  
thought to herself. Next to Yuka, students who were ease dropping were  
thinking along similar lines.  
  
Ranma smiled at the question. He was preparing to answer, when Ukyo  
came into view. Standing over him with her battle spatula blocking the  
light of the sun, Ukyo posed a formidable sight. As the other students  
caught sight of Ukyo, they dashed away in fear of their lives. They  
knew that Ukyo was a powerful martial artist, and given that Ranma was  
sitting so close to Ryoko, it was a fair guess that Ukyo would not take  
kindly to anyone being that intimate with her fiancé. However, their  
fears were unwarranted.  
  
"Oh, Hey Ukyo-chan how are you?" asked Ryoko and Ranma. Ukyo just un-  
slung her battle spatula and sat down next to them. She gave them a  
smile and replied in kind. "Oh I'm doing fine Auntie, Uncle. How have  
you two been doing?"  
  
"Oh we've been doing fine" exclaimed Ryoko. For the most part of the  
day, Ryoko had kept quiet, but now amongst familiar company she let  
herself relax. "Yeah, we just submitted the papers to withdraw Ranma  
from Furinkan" continued Ryoko. As the trio engaged in conversation,  
the surrounding students were puzzled by the use of 'Uncle' and  
'Auntie.'  
  
One of those puzzled students was Nabiki who was walking towards them,  
just as Ukyo showed up. 'Uncle?, Auntie?' she thought. 'I better ask  
them about that.'  
  
"Hey Ranma, Ryoko, Ukyo" interrupted Nabiki. "Sorry to interrupt you  
guys, but I couldn't help hear Ukyo call you two 'Auntie' and 'Uncle.'  
Do you care to explain?" Ukyo looked a bit apprehensive, but Ranma  
waved off her worries.  
  
"Don't worry, Ukyo-chan. Nabiki has the right to be curious, however  
it's best that we take this conversation away from prying eyes and  
ears." As Ranma said that, the surrounding students turned their heads  
away in embarrassment. They thought they weren't being observed, given  
that Ranma's head was turned away. However, they failed to note that  
Ranma's heightened senses practically gave him eyes in the back of his  
head.  
  
As Nabiki neared the group, Ranma placed his hand on the ground and a  
light blue glow could be seen emanating from his palm. As the energy  
pulsed from his hand, the air around the four shimmered. To most  
observers, they couldn't see a difference, however the sunlight would  
occasionally glint across the unseen barrier. When Nabiki saw this, she  
let out a gasp.  
  
"Ranma? What is that?" Nabiki was unsure of what she had seen, but  
given the things she had seen Ranma, Happossai, and the rest of the  
martial artists of Nerima do with ki, she fathomed a good guess at what  
Ranma had done. As Nabiki complied with the motion from Ryoko and Ranma  
to sit down, Ranma removed his palm from the ground.  
  
"That, Nabiki was just a sample of what four hundred years of martial  
arts study and training can do. In this particular case, I used my ki  
to disrupt the grasses' natural chi-flow, forcing it to flow up and  
outward with enough force that it disrupts the surrounding air  
molecules." Nabiki looked blankly at what Ranma had said. 'So what?'  
she thought.  
  
As if picking up Nabiki's mental query, Ranma proceeded to answer the  
question. "You might ask why?" he began. "The reason is to keep ease-  
droppers from hearing us. Whether you know this or not, sound can only  
be heard if there is a medium for it to travel in. In this case, it's  
air. So when you saw the air around us shimmer, that was a physical  
indicator that I caused the air molecules to vibrate fast enough that  
when sound travels through it, the noise will come out mute."  
  
Nabiki just looked at him as if he grew a second head. "Yeah right..."  
she said. When she looked to Ryoko or Ukyo for support, the look they  
gave her told her that this was real.  
  
"Nabiki" began Ranma in a soothing tone. "Listen around you. Do you  
hear anything? Do you hear the sound of students playing, talking, even  
the wind rustling? Do you hear anything except us four?" Nabiki  
paused. She couldn't hear anything. She could clearly see students  
talking, joking, yet she couldn't hear their voices, their laughter.  
  
The silence was proving quite disconcerting. Especially when she  
thought she was going to suffocate. She grabbed to her throat as if to  
imply that. When Ranma saw this, he gave out a jovial laugh.  
  
"Don't worry about suffocating, Nabiki" he remarked. "I didn't cut us  
off from the air, merely causing the air molecules to move fast enough  
that sound waves are disrupted." Nabiki seemed to relax at that. As  
she calmed down, she proceeded to ask Ranma and the rest of them about  
what she had initially wondered before.  
  
"So you guys" she began. "What's this about Ukyo calling you two  
'Auntie' and 'Uncle?' I thought Ukyo and Ranma were engaged. Don't  
tell me Uncle Genma engaged you to your own niece, Ranma." Nabiki  
smirked at that. Ukyo and Ranma merely frowned.  
  
"No Nabiki" Ukyo answered. "Uncle Ranma isn't related to me by blood."  
Nabiki just looked at her with an expression that said "then how?"  
  
Ukyo took in a nervous breath as she prepared to answer. Ranma and  
Ryoko on the other hand were calm as they sat against a nearby tree,  
Ranma against the tree trunk with Ryoko in his lap--feeding him pieces  
of okinomiyaki that Ukyo had brought. While all listened, Ukyo began to  
unravel the yarn of a tale that made up her life so far.  
  
"Okay Nabiki, Uncle Ranma and I are still technically engaged, however  
after hearing my tale, you'll understand why I call both Ryoko and him,  
Auntie and Uncle. Well, it all begins nearly ten years ago. It was the  
day after my engagement to Ranchan was finalized and the day that I was  
to spend the rest of my life with my fiancé..."  
  
--- Yokahama, Japan Ten years ago ---  
  
"Wait! Stop!" cried a little girl as she ran along side a dirt-paved  
road. In front of her was her father's yattai that was being pulled by  
her new fiancé, Ranchan's father. The boy in question sat atop of the  
cart as he waved down at the running girl.  
  
Looking at her fiancé, the little girl continued to run as fast as her  
little legs would allow, screaming for her future father-in-law and  
fiancé to stop.  
  
"Stop you Jackasses!" she screamed. "Stop!" The little girl continued  
to run as fast as she could, running despite the growing distance that  
separated her from her fleeing targets. 'Why aren't they stopping?' she  
started asking herself. 'Why are they leaving me behind? Don't you  
like me anymore, Ranchan?'  
  
At that the little girl finally hit her limit, her legs finally gave  
out, causing her to tumble and scrape her knee. "Why? Why Ranchan?"  
she started crying as she nursed not only her hurt knee, but also her  
broken heart. "Why did you leave me?"  
  
That little girl, named Ukyo Kunoji didn't know what to do. What was  
she to do in this situation? If she returned back to her father, she'd  
be a disgrace. At the tender age of five, not only had she been  
engaged, but she had been practically left at the alter. She was far  
from being tainted goods, but in her mind and eye, she was just as  
worthless.  
  
As little Ukyo sat there on the dirt road, a gentle hand tapped her on  
the shoulder. "Huh?" she said. She didn't hear the person approach and  
although she was taught to be weary of strangers, Ukyo no longer cared  
what happened to her. Looking up with blurry eyes, she caught sight of  
two faces.  
  
While rubbing the tears from her vision, she realized that one of the  
faces belonged to a handsome young-man in his mid-twenties. He was  
giving her a friendly smile as he offered her a hand to get up. Next to  
him was a woman, who was as beautiful as the man was handsome. She too  
was giving Ukyo a friendly smile, extending her hand out to help Ukyo  
up.  
  
Ukyo didn't know what to do at this. 'Who are these people?' she  
thought. She had never seen them before, yet the man seemed oddly  
familiar. Feeling unsure, yet not too suspicious that she would reject  
their assistance, little Ukyo accepted their offering and was lifted to  
her feet.  
  
"Thank you" stuttered Ukyo. Her voice wavered as she talked to the  
strangers. It wasn't because she was afraid, but rather she was simply  
exhausted, both emotionally and physically.  
  
"You don't need to thank us, Ukyo" came the man's response. Ukyo looked  
up at him in fright. 'He knows my name' she gasped. Ukyo wanted to  
flee, something wasn't right with this picture. However, before more  
worry could settle into her system, she felt a light tap to her neck and  
the Ukyo's world went black.  
  
++++++++++  
  
"Wha.. where am I" she said aloud. She was sitting in a room and  
resting in a soft bed. It felt odd, she thought. The last thing she  
remembered was being left behind by Ranchan, then encountering an odd  
couple, and now this. As she sat there, staring at the unfamiliar  
ceiling, she was alerted by the opening of a sliding door.  
  
"I see that you're awake" came a soft distinctly feminine voice.  
"Mama?" Ukyo spoke. 'No, it can't be' she thought. Ukyo had at first  
thought that she was back at home, back to a time when she still had a  
mother. But that had been a year ago, a time before her mother had died  
and her father and her took off for the open road.  
  
"Sorry little one, but I'm not your mother" came the voice's reply. The  
room was dark and it looked as if it was well past nightfall. "Where am  
I?" asked Ukyo. She felt nervous as she lay there. "Where is my  
father?"  
  
"You are at the Masaki Shrine. Your father is not here. You were  
brought here by relatives of mine. They saw you fall down on the road  
after you were chasing a yattai. We weren't sure if the people you were  
chasing were your father and brother. If they are I'm sure we'll find  
them." Ukyo let out a small frown as she heard that. She had hoped  
that what had happened with her and her Ranchan had all been a dream,  
that in reality he hadn't left her behind.  
  
"Jackass" she said under her breath. Next to her, the woman who was by  
Ukyo's bedside looked at the young girl with an odd expression on her  
face. "Excuse me, what did you just say?" Ukyo in turn just blushed in  
embarrassment.  
  
"I'm sorry ma'am, I wasn't calling you that. I was referring to the man  
who was pulling the yattai, and the boy who was sitting atop of it."  
The woman's expression softened as she heard that. As the soft light of  
the lamp shone onto the woman's face, Ukyo got a good look at her  
caregiver.  
  
She was a handsome woman, who looked too young for her true age. She  
had long black hair, and soft brown eyes; to Ukyo she looked absolutely  
stunning. As the woman caught Ukyo staring, Ukyo turned her head away  
in embarrassment. It wasn't polite to stare. Seeing Ukyo's reaction,  
the woman smiled as she tried the comfort the girl.  
  
"Don't fret child, I won't bite. My name is Achika Hino, but you can  
call me Auntie. Do you have a name, little-one?" Ukyo just looked at  
the woman and her features softened.  
  
"Mrs. Hino.. er I mean Auntie. My name is Ukyo Kuonji of the Kuonji  
School of Okinomiyaki-ryu." There was once a time when Ukyo would have  
been proud to say it, but given the day's circumstances it was  
understandable that she had lost a lot of the zest from her spirit.  
  
As Achika listened, she picked up on the slight lowering of the girl's  
demeanor. "Well then Ukyo Kuonji of the Kuonji School of Okinomiyaki-  
ryu, how would you like to get freshened up and help me prepare dinner.  
There you can meet the rest of my family. You know what, one of my  
relatives has a boy about your age. There is also my daughter here  
whose also about your age. The boy's name is Tenchi, my daughter is  
named Rei. Perhaps you would like to play with them instead?"  
  
Ukyo's ears perked up as Achika offered to let her help with the  
cooking. It was something to do to keep her mind off things. But then  
when the woman offered to introduce her to a boy and girl, Ukyo  
immediately blanched. She had opened up to a boy once and he had shoved  
her love back into her face by abandoning her she thought. A girl was  
no better. Ukyo never seemed to get along with the neighborhood girls-  
-they were into dolls and playing tea, not martial arts or okinomiyaki  
like Ranma was. No, meeting this Tenchi or Rei even if they were  
related to this nice lady was not something that Ukyo wanted to do.  
  
"Err, I'd rather help you in the kitchen Auntie. But.. maybe I should  
be looking for my father. I don't want to intrude on your family."  
Ukyo was as polite as she was proud. She enjoyed the company of this  
woman, it was something she could tell from the start. However, she  
knew that she was a stranger to this woman and as a stranger, she felt  
it was only right that she leave and go to where she belonged.  
  
Despite this reasoning, Achika would have nothing of it. "Nonsense  
child" she chided. "You are quite welcomed in my house and at the very  
least, you can have dinner with us while my husband and the others go  
look for your father." Ukyo perked up at that, she was afraid she'd be  
sent out, but after hearing Achika's words, Ukyo no longer felt the same  
anxiety of rejection that she had been feeling since the Saotome's had  
run off with her dowry.  
  
"Okay, Auntie... lets head off to the kitchen." Achika just smiled as  
she watched the girl's new burst of enthusiasm. 'Such a lovely child,  
it's no wonder that he befriended her so long ago' thought the Hino  
woman.  
  
--- At Dinner ---  
  
"Everybody" began Achika. "I would like you to meet Ukyo Kuonji of the  
Kuonji School of Okinomiyaki-ryu. Ukyo, this is my family." As  
everyone began their introductions, Ukyo caught sight of the pair who  
she had met on the road. As Ukyo's gaze came across the man's, there  
was a nagging feeling at the back of her head as she looked over his  
features. 'There is something about him' she thought. 'I wonder what  
it is?'  
  
As dinner progressed and finally came to an end, the room's occupants  
left to conduct their own business. The only ones to remain in the room  
were the same pair whom Ukyo met on the road, an older man called  
Katushito and his wife, as well as Achika and her husband along with  
another woman who looked a lot like Katushito's wife.  
  
"Hello Ukyo" began the man she met on the road. "Do you remember me and  
Ryoko here?" Ukyo just nodded her head as she stared at him. He didn't  
seem threatening, but there was something not right about him, that much  
she could tell.  
  
Seeing the slight fear in her eyes, the man frowned as he began to talk  
again. "Ukyo, I.. I would like to apologize for what happened earlier."  
Ukyo sat there with a puzzled expression. 'Him? Apologizing to me,  
what for?' she asked herself.  
  
Seeing this in her eyes, the man worked in a response to what he was  
about to say next. "Ukyo, do you know who I am? Do you know who I  
really am? I can sense that you do." Ukyo just seemed to frown at his  
question. What was he getting at?  
  
"Ukyo, I know that you suspect something about me. I can see it in your  
eyes. The reason why you feel that way is because.. is because my name  
is Ranma Saotome. I'm Ranchan." Ukyo simply sat there, giving him no  
sense of reaction. 'Shit!' thought Ranma. 'How the hell am I suppose  
to explain things to a five year old?'  
  
While Ranma pondered, Ukyo surprised him with her intelligence. "You're  
not Ranma Saotome" she barked. "Ranma Saotome is a no good dishonorable  
jackass, whose father is just as rotten." Ranma for his part could only  
blanch. 'Geez' he thought. 'I'm over four hundred years old and I'm  
getting chewed out by a five year old.'  
  
Ranma proceeded to sit there, as Ukyo poured forth her grief as she  
tried to describe how terrible the Saotome men were. Around him, the  
various members of the family were either in a state of shock,  
amusement, or both. 'Victim or not, this girl is definitely going  
through etiquette lessons' thought Ranma as Ukyo went through her third  
tirade about how Ranma was the son of something he wasn't quite sure he  
heard right.  
  
Huffing, under her continuous slandering of Ranma Saotome's name, Ukyo  
took a final deep breath as she added. "Also, you can't be Ranma  
Saotome because he's only five years old. You're just some lying old  
man." There, Ukyo was finished. She had made her point and there was  
no way that that lying man could try to fool her into saying that he was  
her Ranchan. That was what she thought just before the said lying man  
gave her a response that put her whole world in a tailspin.  
  
"True, your Ranchan is only five years old" exclaimed Ranma. "However,  
I'm not lying when I say that I am or was your Ranchan. You see Ukyo,  
I'm from the future. I was accidentally sent back in time and I've used  
this opportunity to set things right. In my future, you were abandoned  
just as you were today and subsequently you spent the next ten years of  
your life tracking me down so that you could kill me. You abandoned  
your femininity and lived those ten years as a man, training in your  
family's art so that you could redeem your honor. However, when you  
finally met up with me you experience a slight change of heart... but  
regardless of that, here I am. I'm trying to atone for what my family  
did to you."  
  
Ukyo just sat there with unblinking eyes. Ranma wasn't sure if that was  
a good or bad thing as he waited for the little girl to process the  
information. But as the seconds passed by like eons, a response finally  
came. "Bullshit" she exclaimed. "Time travel doesn't exist and you're  
not my Ranchan."  
  
Ranma just looked like he was ready to explode. He had planned  
carefully for this. Taken into consideration what needed to occur so as  
not to create a temporal paradox. Now, after years of preparation, he  
had failed to take into account how pessimistic five year olds could be.  
'Damn it, what the hell am I going to do!?' he screamed inwardly. 'I  
can't let her go so she can waste her life either trying to kill or pine  
away for me. It's just not fair for her.'  
  
Seeing that his options were few if any, Ranma decided to go for the  
gusto and use a technique of psionic control that he seldom liked to use  
on others. But throwing caution to the wind, Ranma leaned across the  
table and placed two fingers atop of Ukyo's forehead. With a flash of  
light, a series of images, thoughts, and emotions were passed onto the  
child. In an instant, Ukyo understood what it was that Ranma wished to  
say; knowing from his own memories that he spoke the truth.  
  
"What did you do to me?" she gasped. It felt as if she had watched a  
movie while she was half asleep. The images and sounds were there for  
viewing, but they only seemed to come to focus when she sought out a  
specific scene or memory. What Ranma did was a limited dump of selected  
memories; granting to Ukyo enough of what he knew to help her understand  
his motives.  
  
As Ukyo sat there, slowly assimilating what Ranma had given to her. The  
child finally broke out into a smile. She no longer felt sad or alone-  
-Ranma's memories had told her that he would protect her always. While  
those who watched this display sat there stunned, Ranma grinned as Ukyo  
made her way to give him a hug. It felt good to know that he was no  
longer at odds with the little girl. As he let go of her embrace, Ryoko  
was shocked as she was also embraced in a fierce hug--an after effect of  
Ranma and Ukyo's mind meld.  
  
While still in Ryoko's embrace, Ukyo looked over to Ranma. "Ranma.. did  
you really mean it when you said you'd take care of me forever?" Ranma  
for his part just nodded his head as the girl let out tears of joy. It  
was a touching scene as Ukyo proceeded to bring Ranma into her embrace.  
To those assembled, it was a classic Kodak moment.  
  
--- The Present ---  
  
"So you see, Nabiki. That little girl in the story was me and the man  
and woman who found me were Uncle Ranma and Auntie Ryoko. As for why I  
call them that, it's because I couldn't just call them mom and dad, and  
calling Uncle, Ranchan just didn't seem appropriate given his age. Plus  
I couldn't very well call Ranma my fiancé either." Nabiki just sat  
there in stunned silence; she had never expected this to happen.  
  
As the news slowly assimilated into Nabiki's mind, she turned to the  
Okinomiyaki chef. "Ukyo, if what you said is true then why did you come  
back seeking revenge? Do you still want the engagement?"  
  
Ukyo replied immediately to that. "Nah, I didn't really want revenge  
against Uncle Ranma, but he said that in order for history to play  
itself out and to prevent any disruption of the time stream, it would be  
wise to keep to how things originally went. So during the past ten  
years, he had me train while also coaching me on what happened that  
day."  
  
"When he told that the original me went from wanting to kill him to  
wanting to marry him after he said I was cute, I thought Uncle was just  
joking. However, I share the memories to prove it. But in any case,  
now that history has been changed, I suppose I'll be heading back home?"  
  
Ranma merely nodded at that. "That's right Ukyo-chan. While Ryoko and  
I were in the office, we had your transfer approved. Today is your last  
day at Furinkan, I hope you don't mind." Ukyo shook her head. "Nah, I  
can't wait to go back home so I can start dressing like a regular girl  
again."  
  
Ranma and Ryoko just smirked at that. "Are you sure that's all" teased  
Ryoko. "Your enthusiasm wouldn't have anything to do with Tenchi now  
would it?" Ukyo just blushed under their combined efforts. "What, that  
jackass!?" exclaimed Ukyo. "Who'd be interested in that weenie anyway?"  
  
Ranma proceeded to take on a look of disinterest. "Oh" he began. "It's  
good to know that you're not interested in the boy because I was  
planning on arranging a meeting between himself and the Tendo Daughters.  
Also Cologne seemed quite interested in having Shampoo meeting my heir.  
Oh, and lets not mention how his father wants him to marry that Shrine  
maiden in Jubaan. Ryoko, what was her name again?" As Ranma proceeded  
to go on and on about Tenchi's marriage prospects. To Ukyo who was  
listening, she looked ready to explode however she wasn't about to let  
her Uncle get the best of her.  
  
"Fine" Ukyo all but shouted. "Arrange as many marriages for him as you  
want. The weenie needs as much help as he can get." Ukyo proceeded to  
stuff herself on her bento while Nabiki looked on at the sight in  
amusement.  
  
Turning towards Ranma and Ryoko, Nabiki inquired. "Oh Ranma. There was  
something that came up during Ukyo's story. Do you mind elaborating,  
I'd ask Ukyo but I think you're a better person to ask." Ranma just sat  
there and shrugged--giving Nabiki the sign that she could ask away.  
  
"Good, um.. during the end of Ukyo's story, she mentioned how you sort  
of did this mind meld thing. What was that? Don't tell me that was  
ki?" Ranma smiled at that. "That" he began. "That was not Ki but  
something else. I suppose to describe it best is to answer how I got  
such psionic powers. Basically, for all immortals there is a give and  
take that accompanies our lives. As you know, there is this game that  
all immortals must play."  
  
"It is a force that compels us to fight each other, though many  
immortals such as myself chose to not fight unless forced to. For us,  
simple existence is enough. But for others, they strive to kill  
immortals like one would collects stamps."  
  
"The reasons that drive these hunter-immortals vary, though the main  
reason is for power. For you see, when an immortal dies, there is  
something that occurs called the quickening. It is a destructive force  
that occurs after an immortal loses his head, in it you can literally  
see and feel the power leaving the dead immortals body. In some cases,  
the quickening is so destructive that it could destroy a few city  
blocks."  
  
"Now you might be thinking, what is the point of the quickening and the  
answer is with the quickening, all the memories, powers, and life-force  
of the dead immortal are passed onto the immortal who took his life--a  
sort of instant power up so to speak. So for hunter-immortals or to  
those who win the game, the ultimate prize is the cumulative knowledge  
and power of all immortals that came before him. A pretty strong  
motivator, right?"  
  
Nabiki nodded her head as she stared at Ranma. 'Taking their heads' she  
thought. Nabiki unconsciously brought her hands to her own neck as she  
pictured the idea of Ranma taking the heads of his fellow immortals.  
  
'My god, how many heads must he have taken to reach his current state?'  
Nabiki didn't know, but the idea of Ranma even taking one head seemed  
unnerving in itself. Inching away, Nabiki was about to leave.  
  
"Wait" began Ranma. "Don't get the wrong idea about me. I'm no  
headhunter, but I have taken the lives of immortals. I'm not proud of  
it, but sometimes its necessary, you have to trust me on this. I never  
take a fellow immortals life for power or pleasure. The lives I take  
were for the sake of saving others--either mine or those I care for."  
  
"As I said, many of those headhunting immortals are motivated for power  
and in their quest, they'll do anything to attain it. In the case of  
that psychic, he was using his abilities to trick women into falling in  
love with him so that he could rape them. He was as ugly as he was  
powerful and if I hadn't put an end to his ways.. well you get the  
picture."  
  
Nabiki just nodded her head numbly. As justified as the death may have  
been it still perturbed her that anyone could take someone's life like  
that. Ranma might have been an exception in her book, but she still  
didn't like the idea of knowing someone who had killed or could kill as  
easily as they breathed air or drank water.  
  
"Uh.. thank you for answering my question, Ranma. Um, I've got to go."  
Ranma merely nodded his head and gave Nabiki his farewell as he lowered  
the protective barrier around them. As he sat there wondering if he had  
said too much or perhaps not enough, Ryoko was there to comfort him.  
  
Hugging his chest she gave him a comforting kiss on the cheek as she  
rested her head against the crook of his neck. Though no words were  
exchanged, the affection she showed gave him the strength and  
understanding that he needed. Letting him know that she would be there  
for him when he needed her.  
  
--- End of Chapter ---  
  
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to  
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.  
  
(1) - The Blue Oyster bar is the name of a gay biker bar featured in the  
"Police Academy" movies.  
  
Questions and Answers:  
  
Q1. Why did I change the line where Achika refers to Tenchi as her son?  
  
A1. Well although it hasn't been confirmed yet, I'm doing this to leave  
my options open about Tenchi's parentage if you catch my drift. 


	6. Ch 05 Shootout at the Cat Cafe

Echoes in Time (v1.02, 5/02/03)  
  
Chapter 5: Shootout at the Cat Café  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,  
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz  
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima  
Masaki. The characters of Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All  
other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by their respective  
owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free entertainment  
purposes only. No compensation has been or will be received.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Note to Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story  
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds  
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning  
home.  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---  
  
The school day was over for the day as students exited out of their  
respected classrooms in a rush to go home or meet up with friends for  
the afternoon. As waves of bodies flowed out the gates of Furinkan,  
Ukyo met with Ranma and Ryoko as they neared the school ground's exit.  
  
"Hi Uncle, hi Auntie" called Ukyo. "Where are you guys heading off to?"  
Ukyo proceeded to weave in and out of slow moving bodies as she made her  
way towards Ranma and Ryoko. When the couple heard Ukyo's voice, they  
turned back to wave for her to come nearer.  
  
"Hey Ukyo-chan. Your Auntie Ryoko and I are planning on walking on over  
to the Cat Café to talk to Cologne. If you'd like you can come along or  
would you rather go off and hang out with some friends?" Ukyo put on a  
contemplative face as she stood there thinking. In a brief instant she  
had an answer.  
  
"I think I'll just head back to my apartment if that's alright with you-  
-I got quite a few things that need to be specially handled before I  
pack them away." Pausing for a second Ukyo added. "Um Uncle? I was  
wondering if you'll be taking me back or should I call Uncle and Auntie  
Masaki for a ride."  
  
Ranma shook his head. "Don't worry about it sweetie" he began. "After  
we have a talk with Cologne and get something to eat, we'll head over to  
the apartment and get the rest of your things packed. When you're ready  
we'll head back home. Okay?"  
  
Ukyo smiled at that. "I'd like that" she said. "But don't worry, by  
the time you get back I should have all my belongings packed--I didn't  
pack that much anyway." Ranma merely nodded as both he and Ryoko wished  
Ukyo goodbye, promising that their visit with Cologne wouldn't take too  
long either.  
  
++++++++++  
  
"What a sweet child," remarked Ryoko once Ukyo was out of earshot.  
Ranma merely nodded as he looked on at Ukyo's shrinking form, her image  
growing smaller as the distance between them grew. Sighing, Ranma  
turned to Ryoko, who in turn looked at him, conveying through her eyes  
that she knew that something was bothering him.  
  
"Is it that obvious?" he said. Ryoko simply nodded.  
  
"Ranma, what's the matter?" she began. "I thought you'd be excited.  
We've been talking about this day for years; we're finally going to  
realize our dream. The engagements and rivals have almost all been  
settled and once we get the consent of your father and most importantly  
your mother, we can get married."  
  
Ryoko looked on as Ranma continued to ignore her query. Seeing that she  
wasn't getting much of reaction, her eyes narrowed as she leaned in  
forward in a slightly threatening way. "You're not getting cold feet  
now are you?" Ranma immediately balked at that. She knew very well  
that Ranma had no problem with commitment; in fact it was he who felt  
that they didn't need his mother's permission to get married.  
  
Looking at Ryoko and seeing her smile at his disheveled reaction, he too  
smirked as he realized his fiancée's ploy. "No I'm not getting cold  
feet. I'm just thinking about Ukyo. When I saw her leave it made me  
realize that ten years have already passed. It just seemed like  
yesterday that she was still that tomboyish little girl that we found on  
the side of the road."  
  
"I know what you mean," remarked Ryoko with an aloof expression on her  
face. "She's been like a daughter to us. Oh!" Ryoko suddenly made the  
connection between Ukyo and Ranma's slightly depressed state. "You  
still think about your children don't you?" she asked.  
  
Ranma nodded as he answered. "Yeah," he said in a solemn tone. "That  
among other things..."  
  
There was a momentary pause after he said that. It looked like he was  
about to elaborate further but at the last instant he shut his mouth and  
continued walking forward. To Ryoko, it looked as if that would be the  
end of the conversation, she was hesitant to pry for more information,  
knowing very well how one's past memories could come back to haunt them.  
Yet, despite this she felt that Ranma both needed and wanted to talk  
about his past to someone, he just needed a nudge to get him going.  
  
"What other things?" inquired Ryoko once a few uncomfortable seconds had  
passed between them. "You don't have to say if you don't want to," she  
quickly amended. 'Though I wouldn't mind if you'd open up to me more,'  
she silently hoped.  
  
As another moment passed and Ryoko thought nothing more would be said of  
this, Ranma finally spoke. "I think about what could have been," he  
said out of the blue. "What should have been..." he continued in an  
emotionless tone.  
  
"Often I wonder what my life would have been like. You know? -- If I  
hadn't died and become an immortal. If I hadn't left the village."  
Ryoko looked worried as he said this. 'Is he trying to say what I think  
he's saying' she thought.  
  
Finally, after waiting what she believed was hours but in reality was  
merely four seconds, she blurted out a single word. She immediately  
regretted having said it--the fear of having over stepped her bounds was  
causing a painful tightening knot of nervousness to grow deep within the  
pit of her stomach.  
  
Ranma reacted to Ryoko's one word query with a raised eyebrow. "And?"  
he said. "And I believe that if life hadn't turned out the way it did I  
wouldn't have been as blessed as I am right now. I have nearly  
everything a man could ever hope to ask for: loyal friends, devoted  
family, and most importantly of all... I have you." Ranma smirked  
inwardly as he felt the slight rise of elation in Ryoko's demeanor.  
  
In an instant, he found himself pushed up against the wall of a nearby  
shop as he felt Ryoko's hands pin his arms to the side of his body. He  
instinctively tried to struggle but stopped when a pair of pert breast  
pressed up against his chest. Looking down, he gazed deeply into  
Ryoko's soft yellow eyes as he searched for an answer for why she had  
done this. All he felt however was the heat of her hot breath on his  
lips just before she leaned in and kissed him.  
  
Ranma had initially prepared to protest being man handled in such a way,  
but with the touch of Ryoko's lips and the following probing by her  
tongue he soon relented against her efforts. Hearing her moan as she  
began to rub up against him, the passing pedestrian either smirked or  
shook their head at the sight of the young couple. Older women tended  
to mumble to themselves about the depravity of today's youth, while the  
men just grinned at how lucky a man Ranma was.  
  
As the seconds passed and then passed some more into minutes, Ranma  
finally felt Ryoko's intruding tongue leave, giving him enough room to  
break free and take a long needed deep breath. "That.." he gasped.  
"That was--" He didn't get a chance to complete his sentence before  
Ryoko cut him off.  
  
"The best kiss that you've ever had," she said with a feral grin. Ranma  
went over the words for a second as he decided to play around with her  
game. Feigning confusion and ignorance--something he was quite well  
adapted at--he proceeded to answer.  
  
"Kiss? Oh that was a fabulous kiss," he admitted. "But the best?" He  
then leaned in forward and capitalized on Ryoko's slightly angry,  
slightly shocked state by giving her a light peck on the lips. "Now,  
that" he said "Was the best kiss I've ever had" he finally said with a  
grin and a sly wink. Ryoko just stood there in shock.  
  
"A light peck on the lips is the best kiss you've ever had?" she asked  
incredulously. 'You've got to be kidding me, how can you even call that  
a kiss' she thought as she proceeded to think of some more naughty  
images of their passed endeavors. Ranma just nodded his head to her  
question while Ryoko continued to puzzle over what had made that kiss so  
special.  
  
Feeling frustrated she looked him in the eye. "Now, what made that kiss  
so special hmm?" 'I just need to know' she thought. She was very  
surprised when she heard his answer.  
  
"A kiss from your lips taste just as sweet whether it's a long or short  
one, but the look of surprise on your face was priceless." Ryoko  
blushed at Ranma's attempt to act suave. He noted that it sounded  
rather corny coming from him, but for Ryoko, having never had any form  
of romantic reference outside of her relationship with Ranma and the  
occasional soap opera or shoujo manga, she gleefully gobbled up the  
sincerity of his words.  
  
"Thank you" she chimed. "You say the sweetest things." Getting up on  
the tips of her toes, she then released her hold on Ranma's arms and  
brought them up and over his neck. "So, I'm the best kisser you've ever  
had" she began. "Does that mean I'm also your best lover as well?" She  
was grinning in anticipation for his obvious answer, however to her  
surprise that answer never came.  
  
"You're a great lover Ryoko" he began in an exaggerated tone. "But the  
best lover... I don't know--" Ryoko merely swatted him lightly on the  
back of his head as she caught on to his ruse.  
  
"You're a jerk," she said flatly. "And a pervert."  
  
Ranma looked unperturbed by her accusations, he just continued to grin  
widely like an idiot. "True on both accounts" he said. "But are you  
going to answer the challenge or should I be looking for someone else  
who'd vie for the crown?"  
  
Ryoko just bit down on his lower lip as he started to laugh at his own  
joke. "Ow!" he cried. "What did you do that for?" he questioned though  
he knew perfectly well why. Ryoko just smirked at his look of feigned  
puzzlement.  
  
"Ranma Saotome! Don't you even dare try to bring another woman to your  
bed" she warned in mock anger. "Or else you'll learn first hand that  
I'm more woman than even you can ever handle." Ranma just grinned at  
the challenge.  
  
With his hands now free, he proceeded to grab Ryoko's firm rear drawing  
her closer. Having Ryoko suddenly gasp at the contact, Ranma whispered  
in a low voice. "I would dare... I wouldn't mind a lesson from you."  
Ryoko suddenly shivered in delight as Ranma brought his hands across her  
back, hitting sensitive nerve endings along the way up to her shoulders.  
  
As Ryoko stood gasping for breath, Ranma proceeded to whisper further  
into her ear. "I'd ask you to honor that challenge right here, right  
now but we have a meeting to make. However later tonight..." He left  
the word hang there just as he disengaged his hands, leaving Ryoko to  
slump backwards as her knees went weak from the euphoria caused by his  
ministrations. Ranma in turn reacted by lunging out and catching her  
falling body, leaving him leaning precariously over her limp form, their  
faces inches apart.  
  
Huffing for breath. "I'll be happy to teach you the error of your ways,  
but I do expect you to be UP and READY for the challenge" she said  
between gasps. "I don't plan to go easy on you, especially after you've  
left me like this" she exasperated.  
  
Ranma merely feigned fear. "Please be lenient, Sensei" he begged in a  
soft voice. Ryoko grinned as she righted herself up again.  
  
"Perhaps... or perhaps not" she said simply. "You have been naughty and  
I'm not feeling particularly nice, but we'll see." The pair proceeded  
to walk down the sidewalk, acting as if nothing had happened between the  
two. Across the street and along the avenue, witnesses were left gaping  
at the casual scene of carnal display shown by the two lovers. Seeing  
them leave the scene, the gawking crowd eventually broke out of their  
glazed states and continued on with their daily business.  
  
However, hidden in the shadows of one of the buildings a pair of eyes  
narrowed in furled anger at what it had just witnessed. 'Damn you  
Ranma. How dare you betray Akane like this! I'll make you pay, I'll  
make you pay for everything' it swore. 'Just as soon as I find my way  
out of this alley... hey, wait a second, when did Japan have camels?  
Damnit! Ranma this is all your fault!'  
  
--- Cat Café --  
  
"Nihao, welcome to Cat Café, Shampoo be with you in moment" announced  
the bubbly Chinese waitress as she busied herself with clearing a set of  
formerly occupied tables; she had her back turned to the pair of  
incoming customers while she was doing this.  
  
"Shampoo done now, will you please follow--Aiyah, Airen!" she cried.  
Shampoo had a surprised look on her face as she faced her Great-  
Grandfather. Although it had been only a day since she had learned of  
her true relation to Ranma, for the moment she had temporarily forgotten  
this and some deeply ingrained habits then kicked in.  
  
She was preparing to rush up and leap into his arms when she was halted  
by the sound of broken dishes as they clanged or shattered against the  
kitchen floor. The entire restaurant stopped what they were doing as  
they all turned to face whatever trouble might have caused this  
disturbance. Then, right on cue out came an irate Mousse as he entered  
the dinning area.  
  
"Saotome you fiend!" yelled a slightly wet Mousse, his hands and shirt  
wet from working as a dishwasher. "How dare you come in here and try to  
steal my Shampoo," he declared. He proceeded to march his way towards  
Ranma to attack him, but was promptly splashed by a cup of cold water.  
  
*Quack* *Quack* *Thump*  
  
"My apologies Ranma" remarked Cologne as she removed the end of her cane  
from Mousse's duck-sized brain. "I was distracted in the kitchen and  
forgot about dealing with Mr. Part-time here. I hope you and Ryoko  
weren't too inconvenienced."  
  
"Nah, not at all" he replied off handedly; Ryoko too nodded her head in  
agreement. "I've gotten used to it by now. Even after all these years,  
there's always some punk around the corner who thinks they can do me in.  
Now isn't that right, Sweetie?"  
  
Ryoko nodded but added. "Yeah, but every time that happens you act as  
if it's a game. I'd appreciate it if you'd take these things more  
seriously. I worry about you."  
  
Ranma waved her off her feelings of distress. "Oh you worry about me  
too much. Don't you trust me?" Both Ryoko and Cologne laughed.  
  
"What's so funny?" he said. The two women continued to laugh and  
cackle, finally stopping when Ranma's stomach started to growl, but  
starting up once again afterwards.  
  
"I see that your appetite is just as ferocious as I remember" commented  
Cologne as she seated the two in a secluded booth. "So tell me, what  
would you two like to have today?"  
  
Ranma and Ryoko looked over the menus that Shampoo handed them. "Hmm, I  
think I'll go for a bowl of beef ramen with a side dish of egg rolls"  
replied Ranma as he handed the menu back to Shampoo. Ryoko ordered the  
same but added "could you please get us a bottle of sake?" Shampoo  
nodded as she accepted Ryoko's menu. Ranma turned and looked at his  
fiancée with a dubious smile.  
  
"Isn't it a bit early to be drinking?" he queried. He knew that Ryoko  
had a taste for liquor and he liked to joke about her 'slight' drinking  
problem. Often teasing her about getting a spare tire around her waist  
or a sagging butt. Ryoko in turn took it in stride. The comments at  
first had hurt, but after learning that Ranma was only teasing, the two  
had made a game of it.  
  
"It isn't too early" she replied casually. "I'm just in a festive mood.  
After all, I heard that alcohol increases a woman's libido and I do  
intend to be putting you through your paces tonight." She gave him a  
feral grin which he returned. The two continued to flirt despite the  
angry looks Shampoo was giving them. Cologne on the other hand had  
learned to keep a cool head no matter the circumstances.  
  
However, after catching a peak of Ryoko slipping her hand under the  
table and towards Ranma's crotch, she decided to intervene. After all,  
the Cat Café was a family restaurant and it wouldn't do to have a sex  
act being played out in front of paying customers--this was after all a  
restaurant and not a brothel.  
  
"Ahem!" she coughed. "Could you two stop that. This is a family  
restaurant." The two guilty parties turned red in embarrassment.  
  
"Sorry" Ranma said. "But she started it."  
  
Ryoko baulked at that. "Don't you be pitting the blame on me. You're  
just as guilty."  
  
Ranma relented under his fiancée's accusation. "Yeah, you're right.  
I'm sorry." Although he didn't believe a word he was saying, he had  
learned long ago that when dealing with women, it was far easier to make  
them think that they've won by just agreeing. 'Besides, I'm right and  
she knows it,' he thought back.  
  
As the three waited for the food to arrive, the three went into casual  
conversation about their day and how life had been treating them.  
  
"So you say that you two met over twenty years ago" interrupted Cologne,  
as Ranma proceeded to wolf down his ramen. Ranma and Ryoko nodded as  
Cologne gaze shifted solely onto Ryoko.  
  
"So I assume you're a fellow immortal. Like Ranma?" Ryoko and Ranma  
paused in their eating. How was she to answer that?  
  
Slurping her noodles, Ryoko looked at Ranma for some unsaid advice. He  
merely shrugged and continued eating as if nothing was the matter.  
Inwardly groaning, she replied with a tentative "Yes... though I'm not  
quite like Ranma."  
  
Cologne nodded sagely as she sipped her tea. She leaned back in her  
chair and watched in amusement as Ryoko looked on nervously. "I thought  
as much" she finally said, she paused in her elaboration.  
  
"What do you mean?" Ryoko inquired. She was uncertain whether Cologne  
was saying so in a disapproving tone or not, it was hard for her to  
gauge what was lurking behind that old crone's mind.  
  
"I was merely reaffirming my earlier perception of you, nothing more"  
she said simply, while blowing softly over a newly poured cup of tea.  
"You know, after getting a good look at you, I'm not quite sure what to  
make of you."  
  
The hair on Ryoko's neck bristled in anger. "What are you getting at  
you old bat!? Are you trying to say that I'm not good enough for him!"  
Cologne looked un-phased as she was being yelled at, though Customer's  
in the restaurant paused and stared as the scene. Shampoo too as she  
tried to work her way over to their table to listen in on their  
conversation.  
  
Acting unperturbed, Cologne cackled at Ryoko's angered outcry. "Oh,  
don't take my comment the wrong way. I'm sure you're a lovely person.  
I know first hand that Ranma was always a good judge of character though  
a bit naïve at times. But what I was getting at was your chi. Its flow  
is much too strong for a person of your age in appearance--even Ranma  
isn't as strong as yours. So that suggests to me that you're either  
much older than Ranma and I combined or that perhaps you're not of this  
world."  
  
Ranma continued eating his noodles as he listened. 'Be careful,  
Cologne' he thought. 'If you push the wrong buttons she might just blow  
your head off.'  
  
"So tell me" Cologne began again, oblivious to Ranma's mental warnings.  
"What is it? Are you like Ranma and I or are you perhaps a kami in  
disguise. Or maybe you are like us, just much much older. How old are  
you anyway? If you don't mind indulging an old woman's curiosity."  
  
Ryoko looked abashed. This was a sore spot for her as she mumbled the  
answer out. "What was that?" Cologne asked. "I didn't quite hear you.  
You've got to speak up, I'm not as young as I used to be."  
  
Cologne proceeded to lean up and over the table as she cupped her ear as  
if playing deaf. Ryoko groaned to herself. "I'm an alien and I'm two  
thousand years old," she finally said in a hushed voice. It wasn't too  
loud but it was loud enough to bring a grin to Cologne's lips.  
  
"My my my," she said to herself though loud enough for everyone at the  
table to hear. "An alien? Two thousand years old? Really Ranma, I'm  
not sure which makes me more surprised. That you've decided to bed down  
with an extraterrestrial or a two thousand year old one on top of that.  
My my, the lengths you go to sate that 'older woman' fetish of yours."  
Ryoko looked at her and then Ranma with curious eyes.  
  
"What does she mean, 'older women' fetish?" she queried. Ranma rolled  
his eyes as he finished drinking the broth of his ramen.  
  
"Don't be such a sicko, Cologne. It's not like I'm into Grandmas or  
anything. Look Sweetie, what Cologne is getting at is sort of a private  
joke between us. When we were married, she once got me to admit that  
before I met her I had had a crush on Akane's older sister, Kasumi and  
later on a few other women in the village who so happened to be older  
than I. Added, the fact that Cologne is two years older than me also  
gave her more reason to claim that I had an attraction for older women."  
  
Ryoko calmed down after hearing this. It sounded reasonable she  
thought. "Anyway," he began again. "I guess it is true in a way. I  
mean there's your mom, Washuu. Man, I still get the willies when I  
think about those small little hands of hers--Brrr. Oh, and then  
there's her two sisters, Tsunami and Tokimi. Oh, and lets not forget  
about Ayeka, although she was a prude at times she was a lot less frigid  
than those Aes Sedai... Oh, and then there was that Dark Elf, what was  
her name? Oh I forget, but whatever. Man, whenever I think about her I  
can't help but also think about that..." Ranma proceeded to thumb off a  
list of women's names, some of whom Ryoko had never even heard of  
before. She began to boil in anger as she sat there listening.  
  
She was about to zap him when he uttered, "Oh and I shouldn't forget the  
most important old lady I know." He turned and looked at her. "And  
that's you" he said as he gave her a sly wink. Ryoko's features  
immediately softened at his proclamation, the old lady remark was also  
quickly forgotten. When he looked at her that way, to Ryoko it was hard  
for her to stay mad at him when he did that. As he grabbed her hand in  
a reassuring grip, she turned and saw Cologne give a silent nod. Ryoko  
wasn't sure what for, but regardless the sign of approval seemed to  
assuage Ryoko's earlier fears.  
  
"Don't fret child" spoke Cologne, as Ryoko started to lean up against  
Ranma with her earlier feelings of anger towards him all but forgotten.  
"You might be two thousand years old but you've got a long ways to go  
before you fully understand men, especially that one... He might be an  
insensitive dolt at times but he's also a loyal and loving man with a  
good heart. Though our marriage was brief, I have always cherished  
those memories and I'm sure you'll cherish the memories the two of you  
will make together."  
  
Ryoko nodded in understanding, while Ranma too listened in but didn't  
get past the two thousand year remark. "Hey" he interrupted. "You said  
you're two thousand years old, but I remember Washuu saying that you're  
five." Ryoko looked mortified.  
  
She hissed at him. "Shut up! I'm two thousand years old by GP calendar  
so technically I'm only two thousand years old. Got it!" Ranma rolled  
his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, but here on Earth you're five thousand. Gee, don't be taking it  
the wrong way. There's nothing wrong with being old and I figure if  
you're willing to admit you're two thousand, you might as well admit to  
the other three. Three thousand measly years isn't going to change a  
person's mind about you."  
  
Cologne nodded. "That is true... though knowing that you're older than  
Amazon civilization, it makes me wonder how someone so ancient can still  
be so unwise to the ways of love."  
  
Ranma replied before Ryoko could. "Yeah, I've always thought the same  
thing. I assume it was because she spent seven hundred years locked up  
in a cave but her mom told me she was always immature." Ryoko pinched  
him.  
  
"I am not immature," she said to him. Turning to Cologne. "And I'm not  
ancient." Ranma turned back to Cologne as he rubbed his sore spot.  
  
"See what I mean." He was rewarded with a harder pinch which he tried  
to ignore. "Anyway," he continued. "I'm sure you probably want to know  
something about that heir of mine."  
  
Cologne nodded. "Yes I do, but I felt it was your place to make  
introductions and not mine to demand." By now Ryoko had stopped  
pinching him as he pinned her hands together from under the table.  
  
"Okay," he said. "Well now that I'm full lets talk business. What  
would you like to know about him?"  
  
"Oh, I don't need to know everything about the boy, just a few things.  
Merely, how old he is, his skill in the art, perhaps a little detail on  
his personality--his likes, dislikes. Oh, and how he's related to you  
and..."  
  
Ranma took a moment to collect his thoughts. 'Just a few things she  
said. Feh, I'm surprised she didn't ask me what side his wipes his ass  
with. If she thought I knew, I'm sure she'd probably ask me that too.'  
  
Coughing into his hand, he began to spin a yarn of a tale. Thinking to  
himself about Tenchi, Ranma had to stifle a prideful smile. Tenchi--his  
grandson or perhaps it was great-grandson depending on how you saw it-  
-was something to be proud of he admitted. Good looking, smart, and  
kind hearted. 'He'll make a great emperor one day' he thought.  
  
Looking at Cologne as she waited, he took a sip of tea and decided that  
perhaps Shampoo should be here as well. Looking at the time, it was  
nearly 4PM and the last of the lunch hour customers had left. With  
another hour before preparing for the dinnertime rush, he asked Cologne  
to lock the restaurant and bring his Great-Granddaughter over for some  
tea.  
  
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a pair of coke-bottled eyes opened and looked  
up and out at its surroundings. Seeing that he was caged once again,  
Mousse lay still as he listened carefully to the conversation ensuing in  
the main dinner area.  
  
'Another suitor for MY Shampoo's hand,' Mousse thought bitterly. 'Blast  
you Saotome... not you nor anybody else will take Shampoo away from me.'  
  
The duck started laughing maniacally to itself as it contemplated the  
demise of his hated foe. As it made sporadic quacking sounds, this in  
turn alerted Shampoo and caused her to return back to the kitchen.  
Seeing the duck-Mousse and figuring he was up to no good, instead of  
smashing him like she normally would have she decided to pick up his  
cage and put him in the freezer. Hopefully she wouldn't forget about  
him before he froze to death she thought in amusement.  
  
*** Half an hour later ***  
  
"Quite impressive" remarked Cologne as she took a long drag from her  
pipe. She had a contemplative look on her face as she pondered over  
Ranma's description of Tenchi.  
  
The boy was everything she could hope for. He was a far cry from Ranma  
she admitted, but given the fact that Ranma was Shampoo's Great-  
Grandfather and that his genes had already been added to the tribe, plus  
the minor detail of him being now sterile, Cologne could hope for no one  
better than this Tenchi to fill in Ranma's shoes.  
  
Looking at her Great-Granddaughter and gauging her response to hearing  
about Ranma's heir, she was uncertain whether Shampoo would take to this  
new boy with the same fervor she had for Ranma.  
  
'I guess it is my own fault,' she remarked to herself. 'But the poor  
girl did ask me what my idea of the perfect husband would be and it was  
no coincidence that Ranma fit the bill to a tee.' She laughed to  
herself at that thought. 'Ranma, Ranma. First me and now my Great-  
Granddaughter... if only there were more like you. But hopefully this  
heir of yours will be half as charming.'  
  
Turning to her Great-granddaughter she asked a question. "So what do  
you think, Great-Granddaughter. Does your Great-Grandfather's heir  
sound appealing or should we pack our belongings now and return back to  
China?"  
  
Shampoo looked at her Great-Grandmother strangely. This was one of the  
few times that she was ever given the right to decide on her own, it was  
a somewhat new sensation and she was unsure how to act. She knew this  
was some sort of test of some sort. 'Everything with Great-Grandmother  
is a test' she thought dryly. However, despite knowing this she was  
unsure of how to answer. To see this Tenchi Masaki or not? He was  
still not her Airen but Shampoo knew that to pine away for Ranma now was  
futile; he was already in love with somebody else and he was no longer  
considered an outsider of the tribe. 'He's lost to me now.'  
  
With a little apprehension and a reassuring look from Ranma and Ryoko,  
Shampoo nodded. "I go see this Tenchi, we no have to pack now."  
  
Cologne grinned. "Very good Great-Granddaughter. I was hoping you  
would say that, however before we meet this heir of Ranma's we'll need  
to work on your skills of tact and diplomacy. From what your Great-  
Grandfather has said, Tenchi already has a few suitors. You're already  
used to competition, but I feel that the direct approach won't work on  
him... after all from your experience trying to seduce your Great-  
Grandfather, you must realize that it takes a more subtle touch to win  
over the Saotome men."  
  
"Here here" remarked Ryoko to Cologne's comment. The two women laughed  
at that while Ranma looked annoyed. Shampoo was annoyed too, but for  
different reasons.  
  
'If she knew that already then why did she let me chase after him like  
that,' Shampoo thought bitterly. Looking at the two laughing women and  
seeing they were too caught up in themselves to notice her any longer,  
Shampoo turned to the only other person at the table. 'Airen' she  
thought painfully. 'Not airen, just Great-Grandfather now. God, how  
can I call him that? He looks not much older than I do.'  
  
She was broken out of her thoughts as Ranma noticed her staring. "I  
know what you're thinking" he said. "If you'd prefer, you can just call  
me Ranma. Great-Grandfather is a more affectionate term. I was never  
there for you like family so I'm more a stranger than anything. Just  
call me Ranma and I'll just call you Shampoo. When you're ready and  
when we get to know each other better, we can change that if you'd  
like."  
  
He smiled at her and the sight of his perfect teeth and his handsome  
features still melted her heart. 'This sucks' she thought. Despite  
feeling sour at all this, she wasn't an ingrate. Nodding her head, she  
agreed with Ranma's proposal. "I would like that" she said slowly. She  
wanted to make sure her Japanese was perfect when she said that.  
  
Ranma grinned, he knew that it took some effort on her part to make that  
four word sentence. "You know Shampoo, I think you'll like Tenchi. You  
might not want to marry him and he you, but I think you'll like him.  
He's a nice boy, and I think you'll have a lot to learn from him. He  
has knowledge of the art outside of the tribe; give him half a chance  
and he might surprise you."  
  
Shampoo beamed at that. It was an admission that she didn't have to go  
on and marry some other person and be passed on like some piece of  
breeding stock. Her great-grandmother was somewhat insensitive in these  
matters, but Shampoo couldn't fault her. 'She is after all four hundred  
years old, perhaps she's gone a little senile' she thought in amusement.  
  
Looking back up to Ranma's grinning face, she smiled too. "I would like  
that" she said again in the same deliberately slow manner.  
  
Ranma nodded. "I thought you would." Turning to Cologne he addressed  
her. "Well, thanks for the meal, but I think it's about time that Ryoko  
and I return back to pick up Ukyo. We got to head back to the shrine.  
I'll contact you later to arrange a meeting. If you need me you've got  
my cell phone number." Cologne nodded.  
  
"Oh and here is the money for the meal." He left a rather large sum of  
yen on the table, which Cologne picked up and handed back to him.  
  
"Don't be silly Ranma. You're a guest here, the meal is on the house."  
  
Ranma laughed as both he and Ryoko got up. "Thanks Cologne, but you  
keep it. Give it to Shampoo and let her spend it if you can't accept  
it. Just think of it as a gift for all those birthdays and holidays  
I've missed."  
  
Cologne shrugged and handed the offered yen to Shampoo. As the party  
gave their farewells, Cologne broke Shampoo out of her sad state by  
reminding her to prepare for the dinnertime rush. Realizing this,  
Shampoo rushed off to put on her apron and clean up the front. In the  
back of her mind, there was a nagging feeling that she had forgotten  
something. 'Oh well,' she thought. It'll come to her when it does.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Meanwhile, inside the kitchen's freezer, an ice blue duck thought  
angrily to itself. 'Damn you Saotome, when I get out of here I'll get  
you for this.' The duck shivered as its feathers did little to fight  
back the cold of his confines. Feeling a little sleepy, Mousse decided  
to let his eyes rest a while as he ran through a series of naughty  
thoughts of himself and Shampoo to help keep himself warm. Despite  
this, blackness soon overcame his senses.  
  
--- End of Chapter ---  
  
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to  
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.  
  
End Note:  
  
1. If you don't remember, in Ch. 2, Ranma and Cologne named their child,  
Shampoo. Coincidentally the same person that the current Shampoo was  
named after. 


	7. Ch 06 Untitled

Echoes in Time (v1.01, 05/04/03)  
  
Chapter 6: Untitled  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,  
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz  
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima  
Masaki. The characters of Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All  
other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by their respective  
owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free entertainment  
purposes only. No compensation has been or will be received.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Note to Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story  
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds  
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning  
home.  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---  
  
Ranma let off a stiff yawn as he slowly opened his eyes. It was barely  
morning he noted as he first checked his window to see the rising sun,  
and then his clock to see what exact time it was.  
  
'5:30AM' he thought to himself. 'My god, where did the time go?' he  
pondered as the events of last night slowly filtered into coherent  
thoughts and images.  
  
In his mind, he remembered having left the Cat Café, then arriving  
shortly there after at Ukyo's apartment. There, both he and Ryoko found  
the girl already packed and ready to go. It was then only a matter of  
some last minute paper work with the landlord before they were ready for  
Ryoko to give the telepathic command to her cabbit companion, Ryo-ouki  
to make a low-level flyover Nerima airspace.  
  
When Ryo-ouki came into range, Ryoko teleported the three along with  
Ukyo's belongings into the crystalline ship as the cabbit sped off  
through the cloud tops and towards the Masaki Shrine. The return trip  
was rather short and once reaching home, Ukyo was greeted with the usual  
fanfare that a family member returning from a long and distant trip  
should rightfully deserve.  
  
It was during those moments of joyous celebration that Ranma slipped  
through the crying and hugging and headed towards the telephone in the  
kitchen--using it to call the Tendo Dojo to inform Kasumi and the rest  
of the family that both he and Ryoko wouldn't be there for dinner or to  
spend the night either.  
  
As he finished his conversation and returned the phone to its cradle,  
Ranma suddenly felt Ryoko's presence right behind him. At the time he  
noted that her technique at stealth had vastly improved since their last  
lesson; that was the last conscious thought to come to mind just before  
his brain turned into euphoric mush. Because just then, Ryoko decided  
to press her pert breasts up against his back as she tightly hugged him  
from behind.  
  
"Ranma," she chimed in a whispered tone of voice. "Are you ready to  
begin your lesson?" He could feel her hot breath beating down on his  
lower ear as she held him; causing the short hairs on his neck to rise  
up in agitation as her continued breathing tickled his skin and sent  
jolts of electricity down his spine.  
  
With his knees wanting to go weak from the contact, one of Ryoko's hands  
then began to play across his chest, skillfully unfastening a button or  
two, while the other snaked across his belly--playing with his navel and  
coming dangerously close to his pant line.  
  
As Ranma began to lose himself to the experience, he let out a gasp as  
Ryoko's hand phased through the material of his pants then grasped his  
stiffening member. At the time, Ranma noted that the feel of her hand  
was both smooth and cool to the touch. Its immediate effect on his body  
caused him to swallow deeply as his heart began to race. There was then  
an audible smacking of Ryoko's lips as she measured his length.  
  
"My my. It seems that 'Little-Ranma' is already up and awake... that's  
good," she intoned. "But that's also bad. I was hoping that he'd be in  
need of a little coaxing from my part. Oh well, that just means that we  
can jump straight to the fun part." In the back of Ranma's mind, he  
could picture the feral grin on Ryoko's lips as she said this.  
  
As he acclimated to the sudden rise of body temperature and the  
straining pain felt in his trousers, Ryoko whispered again in a husky  
tone of voice. "Prepare yourself... I guarantee that you're not going  
to get a chance to eat or sleep tonight... though, that doesn't mean you  
won't have your mouth full or something soft and firm to rest your head  
on."  
  
Then as she said that, Ranma felt the momentary feeling of  
disorientation that accompanied him whenever Ryoko would teleport him  
somewhere. As his eyes steadied themselves, he felt a cool draft nip  
his skin as his body automatically broke out into light goose bumps.  
Looking around then down at himself, he realized then that Ryoko had  
teleported the two into their bedroom--taking the liberty to also remove  
his clothes during the transport.  
  
He instinctively tried to cover himself up when he realized he was in  
the buff but the hungry grin and the predatory gleam in Ryoko's eyes  
stopped him dead in his tracks--he was like a deer caught in a pair of  
headlights. As Ryoko began to stalk towards him like a hungry cat,  
Ranma let out a nervous gulp as he stared at her golden eyes; eyes that  
promised that the following lesson to be would be an experience that  
he'd soon not forget.  
  
++++++++++  
  
That had been nearly twelve hours ago and he was correct to say that  
that evening was going to be as hard to forget, as it was to remember.  
With the fast paced sex, the costumes, the sex, the role-playing, the  
sex and more sex, Ranma was still reeling from the effects of a hard  
lesson learned.  
  
He was still feeling sore in some choice places. His nuts were  
literally drained and felt as if they had been put through a meat  
grinder. Added the painful scratches on his back and sides plus the  
dryness and soreness of his tongue and mouth, to say the least, at that  
particular moment Ranma Saotome was in no shape nor mood to begin his  
usual morning routine.  
  
A routine consisting of first, light stretching and meditation; followed  
soon after with intensive practice of both hard and soft style katas.  
Then, after working up a decent sweat, he'd spar with Katushito and  
Tenchi for an hour or so before heading towards the furo and then having  
breakfast.  
  
Pausing in his thoughts, Ranma took another look at the alarm clock and  
noted that only five minutes had passed since waking up at that ungodly  
hour. Under normal circumstances he would still be sound asleep,  
especially after receiving an all night tutoring session from Ryoko, but  
from the events experienced in his youth, there existed the instinctive  
need to wake up at this time less he receive a boot to the head from his  
father--to start off their morning practice--or a splash of cold water  
from a smug mouthed Akane.  
  
However that was in the past, but like they say, old habits diehard and  
Ranma in his long life had developed into a person of routine and  
ritual. Without this structure of monotony in his life, he knew that  
there would be nothing left to motivate him to become the best and to  
further his art. Instead he could easily see himself just enjoying  
life--growing soft and fat by spending his mornings and afternoons in  
the comfort of a soft warm bed with the love of his life nestled in his  
arms, just as she was right now.  
  
Ranma sighed as he thought of this. Was it really so bad to enjoy  
himself--at least for one day? He knew that skipping one morning of  
practice wouldn't detract from his skills one bit and it wasn't as if  
he'd gain any noticeable weight if at all. But one day could easily  
turn into two and two into three. He knew from experience that big  
problems often started out small, just before they would snowball into a  
much larger and dire crisis. But was this really a potential crisis in  
the making? Or was it all just inside his head?  
  
'I don't know,' he thought to answer just before he turned to look at  
Ryoko's sleeping visage--her head pillowed between the crook of his  
shoulder and chest. As he stared at her he couldn't help remark how  
cute she looked with the expression of content happiness played out  
across her face.  
  
'What a beauty,' he remarked once more. He knew right then that he no  
longer cared about getting up or not, he already knew that right here,  
right now was where he wanted to be most in the world. 'Because as  
corny as it might sound, she really does mean the world to me.'  
  
So as he laid there in contemplation, he watched Ryoko sleep and dream-  
-feeling at the same time, her warm breath tickling his bare skin as she  
breathed in and out. Then without warning, Ryoko's eyes began to  
suddenly flutter and then slowly open. Thus, exposing to the dim lit  
room a pair of sparkling golden orbs that caused Ranma's heart to skip a  
beat, as he smiled down upon her fondly.  
  
+++++++++++  
  
'What's he smiling about?' thought Ryoko as she opened her weary eyes.  
Across her body she felt sore and tired, yet also happy and sated all at  
the same time. As she sniffed the air she immediately noticed the mix  
of sweat, musk, and sex that permeated their bed sheets and filled the  
air of the room--leaving it warm and congested.  
  
Taking another whiff, the smell brought to mind a vivid recollection of  
their shared passions. Ryoko couldn't help but smile at the thought of  
it.  
  
"Good morning Babe, why are you up so early? Did I wake you?" said  
Ranma with a hint of concern. Ryoko simply shook her head in reply.  
  
"Nah, you didn't wake me," she said with a small yawn. "I sometimes  
wake up early to watch you sleep. But since you beat me to it, I'll  
just have to make a change of plans." She then leaned in forward to  
give him a deep passionate kiss--darting her tongue in and out of his  
mouth as she moaned in gratification.  
  
With their lips locked, she proceeded to then snake one of her smooth  
long legs across his body, straddling his stomach so that she could rest  
atop of him as her weight pinned him down. While she rested there, in  
the back of her head she noted how comfortable this position was as she  
felt Ranma's arms encircle her frame from behind. She let out a gasp of  
pleasure when she felt Ranma's skilled hands begin to rove across her  
bare skin, tickling her spine and caressing her bottom.  
  
"Oh Ranma," moaned Ryoko when Ranma touched a particularly sensitive  
cluster of nerves that sent Ryoko's pleasure centers into overdrive.  
She then gripped the end of his pigtail to pull his head back so that  
she could mash his face into her pair of C-Cups--relishing all the while  
at the dual sensation of his expert hands and his skillful tongue and  
mouth against her flesh.  
  
Meanwhile, with Ranma's face caught between the folds of Ryoko's ample  
cleavage, he began to utilize his skill and knowledge in the "Marital  
Arts" branch of the Anything Goes School, to literally make Ryoko cum to  
submission.  
  
"Oh God don't stop," she breathed out as she bit her lower lip to keep  
from screaming. Ryoko closed her eyes in ecstasy as her nervous system  
finally erupted in undulating pleasure; she saw flashes of colored light  
as her body shook the bed off its posts. Her nails then dug deeply into  
Ranma's already scar ravaged back as she held on in fear of literally  
exploding in pleasure. As her orgasm lessened to more bearable levels,  
she slid back down Ranma's chest so that she could look him in the eye-  
-gazing at him with a lopsided grin and then kissing him to show her  
satisfaction.  
  
"I love you," he said as their lips parted. The three words brought a  
warm feeling to her heart, as her cheeks flushed and her desire for him  
grew. No matter how often she heard it, those three simple little words  
coming from this man was music to Ryoko's ears.  
  
"I love you too," she said as she leaned in and began to kiss his neck-  
-nibbling occasionally on his ear lobe. She could smell his scent; the  
mix of musk and sweat that to her, drove her crazy with desire. As she  
continued to neck with him, leaving a purple blotch below his ear as a  
reminder of this morning, she would sometimes brush her cheek against  
his face--feeling the initial roughness of a day's worth of unshaved  
stubble. Although the contact stung at first, she rather enjoyed the  
feeling, the feeling of being so close to him; to touch and feel him, to  
know that she was loved and was safe in his embrace.  
  
This was the life she had always craved for--it gave her a sense of  
happiness and belonging that was absent from the earlier parts of her  
life. A life first spent as a tool of destruction--forced to destroy or  
terrorize whole worlds or systems. Then later--in just retribution for  
her crimes--she was chased across the galaxy, defeated in combat and  
imprisoned in a cave for nearly seven hundred unbearable years. Years  
spent in cold darkness, lacking any true human contact. All the while  
leaving her in total isolation and feeling only utter loneliness.  
  
'Damn you, Kagato,' she mentally swore. She hated the man for all that  
he had done. For taking her away from her mother, then brainwashing her  
and forcing her to rampage across known space in his thirst for ultimate  
power--the power that was Jurai.  
  
'But I suppose I got the last laugh,' she mused as she hugged Ranma just  
a little bit tighter. 'I did find Ranma because of you; I found what I  
had truly always wanted. You on the other hand found only the cool  
embrace of death. I hope you rot, you bastard.'  
  
A few tears came to her eyes as she shuddered at the memory. A memory  
amongst a few millennia of equally painful memories that she hoped to  
one day forget. 'Though, not completely,' she added to herself. To  
forget it all would do little justice for what she had right now, to the  
life of happiness she had strove to gain and had earned only after much  
strife and sacrifice.  
  
So it was from out of crazed anger, untold suffering and pain, that made  
all that she had ever felt or done under Kagato's control seem like a  
far cry in contrast to what her life was like now--an idyllic life with  
Ranma. A life with a man who ignored her past wrongs, who only saw the  
good in her now and accepted her with all her faults and foibles and yet  
still called her perfect. 'Oh god, I don't ever want to lose him,' she  
thought morosely.  
  
As she abruptly stopped to face him, her eyes conveyed the pain and  
turmoil that her heart was feeling. "Make love to me," she said with  
her eyes locked onto his. Ranma could see then that something was  
troubling her as he stared up at her golden orbs--wondering at the time  
as to what and why she was in such obvious pain.  
  
"Ryoko, what's the matter?" he queried. He grabbed her by the shoulders  
as he felt her shiver slightly. At his touch, she turned her head a bit  
to the side as she leaned back down into his chest. He could feel the  
tears begin to trickle down her cheek and onto his bare skin.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said in a weakened voice. "I just thought... I just  
got to thinking about Kagato and then how I didn't want to ever lose  
you. I... I just want to feel you inside of me, please say you'll make  
love to me," she finally gasped.  
  
The pitiful tone in Ryoko's voice caused Ranma's heart to ache in  
empathy as he held her in his arms. As he debated his options, he  
realized that something must have just happened to act as a catharsis to  
bring forth her repressed memories while under Kagato's control. In all  
the time he had known her the two never talked about Kagato and when the  
subject did come up, the two would quickly switch the conversation to  
something else--anything else--to get their minds away from such deep  
dark memories.  
  
'Did I say or do something to cause this?' he pondered. He wasn't sure,  
but he made a silent prayer to never let Ryoko doubt his love for her.  
He also added a silent curse to Kagato; damning the man for all the pain  
he'd caused.  
  
"Ryoko?" he spoke out tentatively while slowly brushing away a few stray  
tears. She looked up at him with the same sad eyes he saw before; the  
look she gave almost made him lose his resolve. However, steeling  
himself he reached forward to cup her face between his fingers and  
palms, bringing her in for a kiss--a kiss symbolizing in silence that he  
had accepted her request.  
  
As their lips parted, "Ryoko, I love you. Don't ever think you'll ever  
lose me; I'm immortal, I'm forever. I'll be there for you, always."  
Then chuckling, "face it Babe, you're stuck with me whether you like it  
or not. So never think that--"  
  
Ranma was cut off when Ryoko reached out and grabbed his face as he had  
done to her before, kissing him fiercely as if her life depended on it.  
When their lips broke, he could only stare in shock as Ryoko's pouty red  
eyes now shone again with renewed hope and mirth.  
  
"Ranma..." she said as she smiled at him. "Just shut up and fuck me."  
By now, the air of pain and remorse had lifted as the couple embraced  
one another, engaging in the simple act of love.  
  
*** Downstairs Kitchen, Masaki Household ***  
  
Princess Sasami hummed to herself as she began her morning routine of  
preparing breakfast for the household. Although she wasn't the lady of  
the house, her sister was never known for her cooking skills and  
besides, Sasami rather enjoyed making meals--it was one of the few  
things she got to do these days that made her truly happy.  
  
Happy, not because she liked cooking in itself, though cooking she  
admitted was quite therapeutic. But no, what truly made her happy about  
cooking was its effect on those she served, but more specifically, its  
effect on a special someone in this group.  
  
As she began to cut carrots for her longtime friend, Ryo-ouki, Sasami  
was alerted by the intrusive noise of rhythmic pounding from upstairs.  
With the halls void of all life but her own, and with little to no noise  
coming from outside, the constant pounding reverberated through the  
wooden structure--leaving a stark contrast to the otherwise pure  
silence.  
  
*Boom!* *Boom!* *Ah! - Ah!*  
  
The last muffled pair of screams seemed almost mocking to the Princess  
as she stood in the kitchen with a frown on her face and a furling of  
her brow. In the twenty odd some years since she had lived on Earth,  
she had seen and learned many things that now set her far apart from  
being the naïve little girl she once was. For instance, she knew very  
well what was going on upstairs and although the act wasn't what  
bothered her most--since she believed that the love between a man and a  
woman was a beautiful thing--what made her angry was that someone was  
making love to her Ranma.  
  
'Her Ranma,' she thought with slight remorse. 'He's not mine... at  
least not mine in the way I want him to be.' She took pause in what she  
was doing as she looked at her reflection in the glass window.  
  
"You and I are now the same, Tsunami," said the Princess. She looked  
saddened as she said this with her red eyes crinkled and on the verge of  
tears. As she stood there, she thought back to how this all started;  
how here feelings for Ranma had become so mixed up and muddled, that now  
she couldn't even go a day without thinking of him and Ryoko together  
without feelings of anger or jealousy.  
  
'Damn it! I shouldn't feel this way. Ranma is only a friend, more of  
an older brother than anything. And Ryoko... She's my friend, I  
shouldn't be lusting after her man--' Her thought ended abruptly as she  
gripped the edge of the kitchen counter for support.  
  
'What's happened to me?' she queried. She felt weak kneed and almost  
sick to the stomach. Her feelings of guilt were causing a physical  
reaction as the set of months of pent up frustration were taking their  
toll on her.  
  
As she eased herself into a chair, her thoughts drifted back to the days  
right after her full merger with Tsunami. She remembered then how  
confused and awkward she had felt, how memories of past events seemed  
both different and the same, how her feelings for things had changed so  
drastically that she couldn't even say her memories were her own.  
  
For instance, Sasami still saw Ayeka as her protective older sister,  
whom she loved dearly. But now with Tsunami's memories and feelings to  
contend with, Ayeka was also viewed in the light of that of a child--a  
daughter of Jurai that required the watchful eye of Jurai's patron  
goddess to help guide and protect her.  
  
There were other instances of changed perceptions, some less drastic  
than others but the changes were an expected consequence of fully  
merging and Sasami had accepted that fact. However, she had no idea  
that when it came to her memories of Ranma that her feelings and those  
of Tsunami's would merge as they did and change forever how they felt  
for the man.  
  
To both Sasami and Tsunami, the two knew there was something special  
about Ranma from the very moment they first set eyes on him. Because,  
unlike the men of Jurai, Ranma did not bow down to them and view them in  
utter awe as their goddess. Nor did he treat them like a piece of meat  
like Earthmen tended to do. In contrast, Ranma saw Sasami as neither a  
princess nor a godly deity; instead in his eyes she was a human being  
with human thoughts, human faults, and human feelings.  
  
To him, she was the young woman he helped care for and guide through  
adolescence and into adulthood. That through all their time spent  
together, his love for them never wavered--being always there and  
unwavering even when he scolded her when she did wrong or when he cared  
and comforted her when she was hurting. And on those rare moments when  
she couldn't go to Ranma, there was always Ryoko--the woman who had  
captured his heart and who had been like a second older sister to them.  
  
"Like a sister," remarked Sasami in a sad tone; tear marks were now  
falling freely from her red and puffy eyes, as she did nothing to stop  
their flow.  
  
'Ranma was always there to protect me, to guide me, to rescue me when I  
was in trouble...' A sniffle caused her to pause in her musing. "He  
was always there for me," she began out loud. "Always leaving me  
feeling warm and safe... It was little wonder that with Tsunami's  
feelings for him and those of mine that... that we'd fall hopelessly and  
utterly in love with him."  
  
As she sat at the kitchen table, staring at her hands through blurry  
eyes, she twirled around abruptly to the sound of someone's approaching  
voice.  
  
++++++++++  
  
"Sasami," voiced out Ranma in concern. "Are you all right? I thought I  
heard someone crying." An instant later, he padded his way into the  
kitchen with nothing on but a pair of black silk boxers.  
  
Sasami for her part could only stare in absolute silence as the object  
of her heart's desire entered her field of vision, causing an immediate  
rise in blood pressure as her face flushed and she began to wipe the  
tears from her eyes so as to get a better peek at Ranma in all his  
glory.  
  
As Ranma approached Sasami's sulking form, he instinctively reached out  
towards her in concern and touched her shoulder. Upon contact, Sasami  
immediately batted him away as if his hand was on fire, crying out:  
"don't touch me!" Ranma just took a fast step back as he looked at her  
wide-eyed.  
  
"Sasami?" he gasped in shock. Never had Sasami ever treated him so; she  
was always his sweet little Sasami, she would never lash out against  
him. However, the problem was that she just did and there was no reason  
in Ranma's mind to account for why.  
  
"Sasami?" he tentatively began again. "I'm sorry if I offended you.  
Please tell me what's wrong."  
  
Sasami just stared at him for a split second as if thinking, just before  
she got up from her chair--nearly knocking it over--and bridged the  
distance between the two of them. With Ranma in pure shock at Sasami's  
behavior, he was ill prepared when she grabbed him from around the head  
and drew him in for a kiss. And not just any kiss, but a deep, hot,  
passionate kiss that Sasami seemed to pour forth all her heart and  
feelings into--transferring through their bond all her pent up emotions  
as she held onto him for dear life.  
  
Then, as quickly as the kiss began, it was ended when Ranma forcefully  
pushed Sasami away from him--staring at her as if she had grown a second  
head.  
  
"Sasami!" he nearly yelled. "What has gotten into you?"  
  
Sasami was about to answer when Ryoko interrupted from behind.  
  
"Yes Sasami, please tell us what has gotten into you. Perhaps you were  
just joking, is that it?" said the woman in an icy calm voice while  
staring at the Princess through narrowed slits. By now Ryoko had come  
up from behind Ranma and grabbed onto him--covering his bare chest with  
her hands in a protective manner--as if Sasami would snatch him away  
that very instant.  
  
Sasami took a tentative step back as if wishing she could flee. "I..  
I.." she stuttered. She didn't get past that before she collapsed onto  
her knees and broke into a fresh bout of tears. Crying, first of all  
for betraying Ryoko's trust by trying to seduce her man, and second for  
trying to seduce Ranma and not succeeding.  
  
To be continued...  
  
--- End of Chapter ---  
  
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to  
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks. 


	8. Ch 07 Untitled

Echoes in Time (v1.00, 05/17/03)  
  
Chapter 7: Untitled  
  
By AllWhacked  
  
Send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com  
  
http://www.geocities.com/allwhacked/  
  
--- Disclaimer ---  
  
Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko,  
Shonen Sunday Comics, Shogakukan, Kitty TV (Japan) and Viz  
Communications (USA). The characters of Tenchi Muyo belong to Kajishima  
Masaki. The characters of Highlander belong to Davis/Panzer Inc. All  
other characters and trademarks to appear are owned by their respective  
owners. Note that this work of fiction is for free entertainment  
purposes only. No compensation has been or will be received.  
  
Please do not archive this work without the author's permission. Thank  
You.  
  
--- Note to Reader ---  
  
This is an alternate universe/divergence fic with the bulk of the story  
occurring after the Nanban Mirror episode (anime only). Now Ranma finds  
himself stuck 400 plus years in the past with no means of returning  
home.  
  
"..." = spoken speech  
  
'...' = thoughts  
  
--- End Note to Reader, Start of Chapter ---  
  
Anger, Jealousy, Betrayal. Those were just a few of the emotions that  
ran rampant in Ryoko's mindset as she stared evenly at Princess Sasami.  
With her hands draped protectively over Ranma's naked chest, Ryoko felt  
her blood begin to boil as she clenched her open palms into tight-balled  
fists.  
  
"Ranma," she said in an even tone. "Won't you be a dear and leave the  
room for a moment? I need to speak to Sasami alone if you don't mind."  
  
Ranma heard and hesitated--his mind in a temporary state of shock. All  
he could focus on now was the sight before him, of Sasami kneeling on  
the ground with her hands pressed up against her face, tears streaming  
down her cheeks as she shook uncontrollably with each passing sob.  
Every labored breath she took and Ranma's heart would sink deeper into  
his chest, as Sasami would half-hiccup in an attempt to control her  
breathing.  
  
Now his mind began to narrow, pushing all outside thought from his head.  
He no longer sensed his surroundings, no longer remembering that just a  
few seconds before, Sasami had mysteriously come up and pressed her lips  
against his--passionately gripping his head in a lover's embrace as she  
poured forth all her heart and emotion into that short lived kiss.  
  
In a detached sense of awareness, Ranma's right hand began to rise-  
-aching to reach out and touch her. All he wanted to do now was to hold  
her, to hug her in his arms like when she was little, and tell her that  
everything was going to be all right. He wanted to say that he  
understood that this was all some sort of joke, that he wasn't mad at  
her and that all would be forgiven and soon forgotten.  
  
In his mind, all he could think about was comforting her. He didn't  
care about what he did or whom he might potentially hurt in the process-  
-all that mattered was getting to Sasami and wiping away those tears.  
'Oh Sasami, I'm almost there,' he thought. Just a few more inches and  
he would be. He was almost to her when suddenly Ryoko caught his arm in  
a vice like grip--holding him back as he turned to face her.  
  
There was a pleading look in his eyes as he stared at her. The look  
caused Ryoko to shrink back from her earlier resolve to stop him, but  
with a saddened look of her own, she steeled herself and shook her head  
no.  
  
"Ranma," she began, her voice becoming weak and strained. "Please... I  
need you to stop! I need you to leave the room right now!"  
  
Ranma's mind snapped back to attention. He had almost forgotten that  
Ryoko was there and felt shamefaced by his earlier actions. With a  
downcast look he mumbled his apologies.  
  
"Ryoko," he began. "I'm sor--" He stopped when he saw the look of  
understanding in her eyes.  
  
"Don't say another word," Ryoko said as she placed two fingers over his  
lips. Her eyes conveyed to him the added message that she understood  
his feelings and that she wasn't mad at him. And so with a relieved  
sigh, Ranma said his internal thanks and gingerly gripped her delicate  
hand into his--gently squeezing it a few times--as he kissed each and  
every one of her knuckles. 'Thank the Gods for allowing me to meet such  
a kind and forgiving woman.'  
  
"Ryoko," he then said as he let go of her--the words were coarse and  
whispered. "Please... please go easy on her," as he passed by Ryoko to  
exit.  
  
When he finally left the room, he did so without saying another word and  
slid the kitchen door shut. He then proceeded to turn down the hall  
towards the bathroom, where he took a quick shower and got dressed for  
morning practice--the thought of which helped return some semblance of  
regularity to this highly unusual morning.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Listening quietly to Ranma's faint footsteps, Ryoko eased her breathing  
as she heard him enter the furo. When she heard the door slide and then  
close, she reverted her full attention back to the light-blue haired  
woman still sobbing on the kitchen floor.  
  
There was an ounce of sympathy when she saw Sasami again. The pathetic  
sight the princess projected almost made Ryoko want to breakdown herself  
and cry alongside her. However, the feelings of being hurt and the act  
of betrayal still etched themselves deeply across Ryoko's heart and  
mind--helping to steel her resolve for what she had to do. But despite  
this resolve, Ryoko was still unsure as to "what" or "how" she was going  
to do it.  
  
Waiting a minute, listening in a quiet simmering state of anger as  
Sasami cried her heart out, Ryoko came to think about what this woman  
had done and what she was possibly trying to do. Feelings of jealousy  
reemerged, sharpening her sense of loathing--both at herself and towards  
Sasami. The longer she looked at this woman, the longer she heard her  
cry, the greater Ryoko's overall feelings of anger, hurt, and betrayal  
grew.  
  
Now the mere sight of Sasami seemed to pain Ryoko; she felt disgusted  
just looking at her. And with this disgust added only more fuel to  
Ryoko's growing ire as she now wanted to simply lash out at this woman,  
to cave her head in for trying to steal her man--the man whose love she  
cherished more than life itself. 'She was trying to steal something  
most precious from me--something that I have worked and longed for all  
my life. I will not let her or anyone else get away with this.'  
  
All rational thought now left Ryoko. She no longer saw in Sasami the  
same little girl whom she had come to love as a sister. 'She's not my  
little-Sasami. She's just another conniving bitch trying to take what  
doesn't belong.' Reaching deep within herself, she felt her anger  
continue to rise with each passing second, the energy in her three gems  
responding to their user's desire for vengeance.  
  
And from their positions embedded in Ryoko's wrists and throat, the  
energy within these gems blazed into three blinding beams of red light.  
Their combined radiating output flared around her in a harsh solid glow,  
consuming Ryoko's form as the lacy white negligee she had been wearing  
was replaced with a red and black patterned skin-tight body suit--the  
same suit she wore whenever she entered battle.  
  
In the wake of the gem's full state of brilliance, the light they  
emitted abruptly died down to the faint glow of charcoal embers. In her  
changed state, Ryoko called upon even deeper reserves of power. She  
strained against the safety barriers once placed upon them by Washu and  
called forth the full potential of the goddess's jewels--accessing on a  
subconscious level the cosmic energy that had once created and now bound  
the universe together; the same cosmic energy that when applied in a  
slightly different manner, could easily rip the fabric of space-time  
into oblivion.  
  
And it was this destructive potential that Ryoko sought--yearning for  
its aid. For she knew that it was only through this way, through the  
use of this raw and destructive force, that she could be absolutely sure  
that the threat to her love would not come back to reclaim him. And as  
she ached with a desperate need to destroy one of the most powerful  
beings in the universe, the patron goddess of planet Jurai, Princess  
Sasami, the gems responded to the pure unadulterated desire of their  
mistress. Thus they began to furiously tap into the realms of subspace,  
into greater inter-dimensional wells of power that would aid in  
gathering enough energy for Ryoko to finally call forth ten full Light  
Hawk Wings[1] that shimmered around her in a translucent halo.  
  
With a labored breath from exertion, Ryoko closed her eyes and felt  
tears begin to fall as she made a silent prayer. 'Please forgive me  
Ranma. Please forgive me for what I'm about to do. But it's the only  
way. I love you."  
  
And with those last words, she gathered all her hate, all her love, all  
her feelings of hurt and betrayal to cause the Light Hawk Wings to  
change shape and merge--combining together to form an overtly simplistic  
blade that mimicked the shimmering-translucence of crystalline metal.  
  
'I'm sorry Ranma. I have to do this. It is the only way I can protect  
you, My Love.'  
  
Ryoko took a step forward, bringing her hand down to grip Sasami's head  
by the chin--tilting it up to face her. Ryoko wanted Sasami to see her  
eye to eye--to look into the face of the woman who would be her  
executioner. And as if by silent command, Sasami did as Ryoko wished  
and removed her hands to stare blankly at the beautifully horrific sight  
of a goddess scorned.  
  
Lifting Sasami's chin just another inch, the kneeling Royal Crown  
Princess of Jurai didn't bother to flinch--almost looking relieved--when  
Ryoko pulled the blade back, pointed its narrow tip forward and lunged  
the blade through Sasami's exposed throat.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Ranma was outside, sitting on the porch of the house as he took a long  
drag from a cigarette. The acrid smoke swirled in an even spiral  
pattern and dissipated with a slight breeze, as he gazed out across the  
valley to eye the sun as it slowly passed over the distant mountainside.  
  
Taking another drag from his cigarette, he rubbed the back of his neck  
then began to uneasily adjust the ties of his white gi[2] that was  
accessorized with a black colored hakama[3]. With another uneasy puff  
from the orange colored filter, Ranma shifted his gaze again to eye the  
holy tree of the Masaki shrine. Looking out at the vast lake that  
surrounded the Juraian tree-ship, Funaho, he couldn't help but notice  
that it stuck out amongst the great expanse of water like a sore  
sticking thumb.  
  
Sighing at the picturesque sight before him, Ranma rolled the half  
finished cigarette across his knuckles and then stopped when he heard  
footsteps approaching.  
  
"Tsk, Tsk, Ranma. You know the rules: no smoking on shrine grounds."  
  
Ranma turned and eyed the elderly looking man. The man appeared to be  
in his late-sixties, having a short graying mustache and long hair that  
was tied in a simple ponytail that ran down the length of his back-  
-nearly reaching his heels. Dressed in a similar attire as Ranma, he  
carried two wooden bokens[4] over his right shoulder that clanked  
against one another with each passing step. As he came within range, he  
grabbed one of the bokens and tossed it towards Ranma, who in turn  
caught it one handed--using the other hand to draw his cigarette for one  
last puff against his lips.  
  
"You know Yosho. Right now, I don't give a flying-fuck about shrine  
rules. And before you go and say it, I know there is no swearing  
either."  
  
Yosho, royal crown prince of planet Jurai, next in line to inherit the  
Juraian Imperial throne and known on his adopted planet, Earth, by his  
alias and profession, Katushito Masaki--the head Shinto shrine priest of  
the Masaki shrine--gave Ranma a scrutinizing raised eyebrow.  
  
"I see," he said, taking a seat next to Ranma. "I sense you're  
troubled. Is there something I should be made aware of?"  
  
Ranma shrugged and grinded the smoldering butt of the cigarette against  
the heel of his bare foot, before placing it in his palm to incinerate  
it with a fiery ball of elemental green ki.  
  
"Troubled? I guess you could say that, though I'm not too sure what to  
say Yosho. Something happened this morning--something strange. I'm not  
even sure that it even happened; it all still seems so surreal--like it  
was all a dream. But if what I think happened did happen, well... I  
loath to think what Ryoko is doing to Sasami right now."  
  
Yosho listened in understanding, though deciphering Ranma's cryptic  
speech proved to raise more questions than answers. Adjusting his  
spectacles so that they glinted with the morning's light, "perhaps you  
could elaborate a little bit more Ranma. I'm still a little confused.  
Did something happen between you and Ryoko, between you two and Sasami?"  
  
Ranma nodded, still staring out with a vacant lost look. "You could say  
that," he began with a slight drawl in his voice. "I'm not too sure if  
I should say anything more though... this is kind of a private matter,  
but still... I suppose this might concern you too. It involves your  
sister."  
  
"This morning, I came down stairs to fetch a glass of water and maybe  
something to eat, when I heard someone crying in the kitchen. Of course  
the sound drew my attention and I peaked my head in to catch sight of  
Sasami sitting at the kitchen table with her hands over her face."  
  
"I of course immediately went over to comfort her. When I placed my  
hand on her shoulder to let her know that I was there, she batted it  
away as if it were on fire. She had this look on her face too. I'm not  
too sure how to describe it."  
  
"At first, it looked as if she didn't recognize me--as if I wasn't even  
there. But then her gaze soon shifted and she had this almost crazed-  
animalistic look in her eye. I'll admit that I was a bit scared when I  
saw this. It sort of reminded me of this berserker look that some  
fighters get when they know they are going to die, but before they bite  
it, their eyes will tell you: 'I have every intention of taking you down  
with me.' You know what I mean?"  
  
Yosho gave an affirmative grunt as Ranma went on to continue.  
  
"Well you know that when someone looks at you like that, they usually  
mean it. So I immediately backed up and then blanked. It was sort of  
one of those rare moments when my mind failed to guide my body.  
Everything after that point was being run on pure instinct. It was  
either fight or flight, you know? But still, my mind was trying to  
regain control and fight my instinct to get the hell out of there. I  
mean, it was just Sasami after all. And so in that moment of  
hesitation, Sasami rushed up and grabbed me from behind the head and  
kissed me on the lips."  
  
"And it wasn't just some sort of peck on the lips either; it was a full  
blown, open mouth, tongue probing, wet sloppy kiss. By the time that I  
even realized what was happening, I think Sasami had half her mouth down  
my throat. When my mind finally regained control of my body, I  
immediately pushed her off me and before I even had a chance to say  
anything, Ryoko came downstairs and caught us."  
  
"I'm not too sure how much she saw, but I think she knew that it was  
Sasami who initiated it. She just came up behind me, asked if Sasami  
was only joking around and that's when Sasami broke down in another bout  
of tears. I don't quite remember what happened next, but I think Ryoko  
told me to leave--that she wanted to talk to Sasami alone. That was  
about twenty or thirty minutes ago."  
  
Yosho nodded, as he fought against brotherly instinct while still trying  
to be an objective friend for Ranma. He had a vague idea of what had  
just happened and why, but just like Ranma, he too was loath on finding  
the final outcome. If what he thought about Sasami was true, he knew  
that this would indelibly affect the "wa"[5] of the household. The only  
question that remained however was whether it proved to be for the  
better or for the worst--an answer he simply did not know.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Ryoko heaved with a labored breath, panting with exertion as she tried  
desperately to restrain her killer instinct. With the tip of her sword  
poised dangerously close to the princess's exposed jugular, the only  
reason why the blade was not already impaled through its target was the  
look of complacent forgiveness in Sasami's eyes. Instead of seeing fear  
or even the vapid stare of one who did not even realize they were about  
to die, Ryoko saw forgiveness--forgiveness towards her and the deathblow  
she was about to inflict--that shocked Ryoko out of her otherwise  
inconsolable rage.  
  
Feeling her anger wilt and bleed away with each passing second, Ryoko's  
sense of rational thought returned to her. Immediately, she felt  
sickened by her own actions--at the very thought that she would murder  
so easily in order to protect her love for a man. Protecting him not  
because she feared generally for his safety (though she would kill or  
die just the same protecting it), but rather more selfishly, to protect  
herself from possibly losing the love of this man. A man who was the  
most important thing to her, whose love for her was Ryoko's most  
cherished commodity and that it was so valued that when its supply was  
threatened, it caused Ryoko to act out in ways that bordered on the line  
of temporary insanity.  
  
And so in the wake of regaining control over both her mind and body,  
Ryoko found herself in a state of emotional exhaustion as she simply  
brought her knees together and sank to the floor. During her descent,  
her control over the Light Hawk Wings vanished--causing her sword to  
simply dissipate into a multitude of white floating beams of light that  
gathered around her, swirled about for a few seconds, and then funneled  
themselves hurriedly back into one of the three red colored gems in her  
right wrist.  
  
This occurred simultaneously with the de-transformation of her costume.  
Instead of the red and black battle suit she had been wearing, it  
energized out of existence--starting at her peripheral limbs and working  
its way back towards her center--to return to their storage compartments  
in the pockets of sub-space. In the suit's place now rested the white  
silk negligee that Ryoko had been wearing when she first came down the  
stairs.  
  
At this point Ryoko found herself now kneeling on the kitchen floor,  
that when she shifted her head up she came eye to eye with Sasami. The  
other woman in turn stared back at her with red-pink eyed pupils-  
-looking very much like a frightened rabbit. This said to Ryoko that  
Sasami wanted to both stay, but if things turned bad, to also flee if  
necessary. Sensing her hesitation, Ryoko took the initiative and  
grabbed Sasami in a tight embrace--hugging her with such warmth and  
empathy that she could no longer imagine herself being angry with this  
woman. This was still the case even after the stray thought entered  
Ryoko's head that Sasami had been trying to seduce Ranma away from her.  
  
In Ryoko's mind, all this no longer seemed to bother her. She had  
somehow gotten over her jealousy, either because she was so tired  
emotionally or perhaps still in shock over how close she came to  
beheading Sasami, that she no longer paid much heed to the darker  
emotions still lurking insider her head. All that mattered now was to  
comfort Sasami, to reassure her that she was no longer mad at her, but  
that an explanation was definitely in order.  
  
The two remained like this for a whole minute, holding onto one another  
until Ryoko felt the dampness of Sasami's tears soak through the thin  
coverings of her silk teddy. It then occurred to Ryoko that perhaps  
they could carry on the rest of their discussion back inside the women's  
furo where they can first take a break, clean up, and perhaps regain a  
fresh outlook on things.  
  
Disengaging herself from their embrace, Ryoko broke the silence.  
  
"Sasami?" Ryoko said quietly, trying to sound neither angry nor  
particularly happy with the other woman. "I haven't said this yet, but  
I want you to know that neither Ranma nor I are angry at you."  
  
Sasami merely answered with a silent look that looked skeptically  
frightened and begged that if Ryoko's statement were true, to please  
reconfirm this. And since this seemed important for Sasami to hear,  
Ryoko was more than willing to oblige.  
  
Putting a reassuring hand on top of Sasami's, Ryoko nodded her head.  
"Yes," Ryoko began again. "I'm not mad at you. Neither is Ranma. I  
was mad at you before, but... I'm over it." The last part sounded a  
little forced.  
  
Giving a generally relieved sigh, Sasami responded with an outburst of  
emotion. "Thank you!" Sasami said, now gripping onto Ryoko's hand. She  
held the hand up, kissed it, and thanked Ryoko again. "Thank you! I'm  
so sorry for what I did. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she said in a  
hurried rush. "You don't know how much this means to me. I can't  
imagine what would happen if you said you hated me. I don't think I  
could go on living."  
  
A crack of a smile returned to Sasami's lips. "And Ranma," she said  
eagerly. "You said that Ranma's not mad either? Is that true, is he  
not mad?"  
  
Ryoko nodded, adding: "He's less mad about this than I am. I don't  
think he even realized you kissed him. I on the other hand... Well, I'm  
still angry and hurt, but I don't hate you, Sasami. I just want to know  
why you did it."  
  
Sasami's earlier mirth wilted when she heard Ryoko admit that Sasami's  
actions had hurt her.  
  
'Of course she's hurt, you idiot!' Sasami internally rebuked. She cast  
her head back down in shame; however, Ryoko gently placed a hand under  
her chin and forced the princess to look her up in the eye.  
  
"Sasami," Ryoko began, her voice raised and agitated. "I don't mean to  
ruin your mood, but I still want you to understand that what you did  
hurt and I want you to know that. But I also want you to know that I  
don't hate you either... that I'm sorry for almost killing you and that-  
-"  
  
Sasami broke her off. "Don't be sorry," Sasami began regaining some of  
her composure. "I deserve to die. What I did can't be forgiven; I'm a  
bad and evil person. You have every right to want to kill me."  
  
Ryoko heard this and narrowed her brow. "No, I don't have any right to  
kill you and you surely don't deserve to die. What you did--it wasn't  
evil I don't think."  
  
Sasami looked unconvinced, but Ryoko continued. "Tell me Sasami... tell  
me first why you did it?"  
  
Sasami looked back down and towards her hands, looking at them as if  
they held the answer. Slowly, then hesitantly, she began to answer.  
"I.. I don't know," she said.  
  
Ryoko looked on and simply snorted her disapproval. "You lie," she said  
simply. "Don't give me this 'I don't know' bullshit. You know fully  
well why you did it--I can see it in your eyes. Now tell me the truth!"  
  
Sasami looked back up and hesitated, but still gave the same answer.  
"I.. I don't know."  
  
"Oh is that so?" Ryoko inquired. "Then tell me why you had to kiss  
Ranma! Why did it have to be him?"  
  
Sasami looked stunned. "I don't know," she answered again.  
  
Ryoko's voice was getting angry and she could feel the ire in her  
returning. "Sasami, stop fucking lying to me! Tell me why you kissed  
Ranma. Tell me why you kissed HIM. Why did it have to be HIM? Now  
tell me!"  
  
"I.. I don't--"  
  
*SLAP!*  
  
Sasami felt the sting of Ryoko's open palm as she stared at the furious  
yellow eyes looking straight at her.  
  
"I told you to stop fucking lying to me," hissed Ryoko. "Now I'm going  
to ask you one more time: 'Why did you kiss Ranma?' If I hear anything  
more from your mouth, outside that of the truth, I swear to all that I  
hold dear that I will hate you for the rest of my life. And I don't  
think I need to remind you how much Ranma hates liars too."  
  
Sasami felt a great pressure weigh itself down against her chest as she  
fought against conscious thought and instinct. Part of her wanted to  
tell the truth, to say that she loved Ranma with all her heart, but the  
other part wanted to protect Ryoko. She couldn't imagine what such an  
admission would do to her and how all this would effect Ryoko's  
relationship with Ranma. It would be better if she just lied again and  
risk Ryoko hating her for life--she couldn't live with herself otherwise  
if Ranma somehow got wind of this and broke up with Ryoko in order to  
appease Sasami. Or worst yet she thought, he would hear about her  
admission and reject her love outright.  
  
But even if Ranma didn't love her, like she loved him, Sasami knew that  
she had always been his favorite. Ranma had always pampered her like a  
daughter, loved and cared for her like a sister, and left an impression  
on Sasami at a very young age, that Ranma was everything she could ever  
want in a man. So it was little wonder that she had fallen head over  
heals in love with him. And it was also little wonder that the mere  
thought of him hating her now caused Sasami's resolve to crumble.  
  
Feeling the heartache of Ranma's hatred towards her far outweighing the  
possible burden of ruining Ranma and Ryoko's relationship, Sasami made  
the decision to unleash the torrent of hidden feelings and emotions that  
she had kept locked away for the past six months--doing so with the  
utterance of one single sentence.  
  
"I kissed Ranma because I love him Ryoko, because I love him and I can't  
stop thinking about him."  
  
Moisture had returned to Sasami's eyes as she gave Ryoko a furious  
glare.  
  
"Are you happy now? Do you like what you hear? I said: I LOVE HIM. I  
L-O-V-E HIM. I love him so much that I'm beginning to hate you for it,  
did you know that? You said that you don't hate me, but I hate you!"  
  
"I hate you Ryoko! I hate everything about you. I hate the fact that  
you have him and I don't. I hate the fact that every time I see you  
together I just want to claw your eyes out. I hate it! I hate it so  
much that I have these feelings and I can't do anything about them."  
  
"Every morning I wake up dreaming about him. In the afternoon all I do  
is think about is him. And in the evening, the only way I can get to  
sleep at night is to fantasize about him. If you hadn't come in just  
when you did, I would have torn off those skimpy little boxers of his  
and made love to him right here on the kitchen floor. I would have MADE  
him make love to me. I don't know how, but I would have. And I would  
do things to his body that I doubt even you would ever dream of."  
  
"So Ryoko, do you still think I don't deserve to die? Do you still  
think I should have told you the truth? Does this make you feel better  
knowing that I would rape your fiancé if given half a chance?"  
  
By now Sasami was panting, her voice almost out of breath. Whether  
Ryoko felt better for knowing about this was still unknown, however  
Sasami hadn't felt this good for a very long time. Now having said all  
these things that she had been forced to keep secret for oh so long, the  
liberating experience proved to be the perfect cathartic release for the  
princess. This elation she felt lasted just up to the point when she  
realized all the mean things she had just said.  
  
Gasping, "Oh Ryoko! I'm so sorry. I.. I didn't really mean what I  
just-- I.. I.." Sasami started to get up, but Ryoko stopped her,  
gripping her by the arm and pulling her back down.  
  
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Ryoko asked.  
  
Sasami didn't bother hesitating. "I'm going to go pack and get out of  
here. I'm going to go somewhere, far away from here, where you and  
Ranma won't be bothered by me ever again. I'm sorry Ryoko... I'm sorry  
for what I said. Just promise me that you won't tell Ranma about this.  
Don't tell Ranma that I.. that I love him."  
  
By now Sasami was trying her best to struggle out of Ryoko's iron strong  
grip, kicking and squirming her best in order to break free. However,  
the cyan haired woman would have none of that and increased her hold on  
Sasami by using her other hand to pull the princess into another tight  
embrace--holding the woman's back up against her chest, while Sasami  
kicked and thrashed and threw out curses in an attempt to escape.  
  
"Ryoko, let go of me you bitch! Let go of me, I hate you! I hate you,  
I hate you, I hate you!"  
  
Sasami's tirade went on like this for another half a minute, stopping  
only after the princess grew tired and resigned herself to the fact that  
Ryoko was physically stronger than her. Panting, she began to weep and  
Ryoko moved her hand to cradle Sasami's head to her breast--rocking her  
in her lap like a babe.  
  
"Ryoko... I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Sasami said.  
  
Ryoko just shushed her and kissed her forehead. "I know you are and I  
forgive you."  
  
Sasami cried some more but added: "But I said I hate you. I said all  
those mean things. I promised I would take Ranma away from you. How  
can you forgive me?"  
  
Ryoko was quiet for a few seconds before answering. "I can forgive  
because first of all I love you. And I will love you unconditionally no  
matter what you say or do. Second, I understand your pain. I know that  
if our situations were reversed, I would hate you too."  
  
"But what you're feeling is not hate, it's jealousy," Ryoko added. "I  
know you love Ranma and I also know what the power of love can make you  
do." A distant smile appeared on her face as a long ago memory came to  
pass. "You might not remember this, but twenty years ago, I did a lot  
of stupid things because of love--because of my jealousy."  
  
Sasami sat there, trying to picture an image of Ryoko being as mean and  
as vindictively spiteful as she had been to her. She couldn't fathom  
the idea, but she took comfort in Ryoko's words nonetheless. As the two  
sat there for a while, holding on to one another as they rocked in  
rhythm with the constant ticking of the kitchen's clock, Sasami finally  
murmured a query.  
  
"What's going to happen now?"  
  
Ryoko looked down and frowned. "I don't know for sure... not until 'we'  
talk to Ranma." She added an emphasis on the "we" part and then paused  
before adding, "but I don't think you'll be needing to leave anytime  
soon. Ranma and I still love you. We'll work through this, I'm sure of  
it." She gave Sasami a comforting hug.  
  
"Now before we go talk to him, I think we should head to the furo and  
clean ourselves up. We can talk some more in there."  
  
Sasami listened and then turned to face Ryoko. She gave a weak smile  
and nodded her acceptance.  
  
++++++++++  
  
Swing, block, duck, parry, dodge, attack, and counter attack were just  
some of the martial art moves put into play as Katushito and Ranma  
carried out their morning training routine. As the two fought against  
imaginary opponents in this elaborately orchestrated sword kata, the  
former followed the latter in copying the complex moves employed by the  
Anything Goes School Grandmaster.  
  
The two men flowed together in perfect unison, dancing a deadly ballet  
that employed sword strikes, punches and kicks. While the two men  
blurred from one strike to another, they ended their kata by stopping at  
their points of origin. Ceasing all action after they carried out the  
last finishing move, then both gave respectful bows before turning to  
face one another.  
  
Breathing hard, with perspiration on his faces, Katushito thanked Ranma  
for leading today's practice.  
  
"That was a good one. I haven't practiced that form in a while."  
  
Ranma grinned as the two approached a wooden bench. They each took a  
seat as they toweled themselves off, while taking comfort in the cool  
morning breeze.  
  
"So, where's that lazy boy of yours?" Ranma remarked once the two had  
rested.  
  
"Don't know. Tenchi wasn't in his room this morning and I didn't see  
him at home last night. Ukyo was pretty disappointed when he didn't  
show."  
  
Ranma snorted. "He's probably goofing off with some friends." He took  
pause after he said this. "Hmmm, I'm surprised though. Ukyo and Tenchi  
have been getting pretty close lately and that mother of his usually  
keeps him on a short enough leash."  
  
Katushito gave a hearty laugh. "I had a talk with Ayeka just the other  
day about that. I told her: 'The boy needs to learn to be on his own.  
You can't keep pampering him as if he's still you're little-boy. He's  
almost a man now and if he's going to be emperor one day, then you're  
simply going to have to let him go so he can grow up.'"  
  
Ranma gave his own laugh when he heard this. "I bet she didn't take  
that very well."  
  
"You can say that again. I got an ear full, but I think I made my  
point. She let Tenchi stay home, while we went to the intergalactic  
convention. But last night she was nearly frantic when she didn't hear  
from him. But I took some of your advice and told her: 'Tenchi is a  
smart boy and he knows how to stay out of trouble. If anything bad  
happens the cops will call.'[6] Of course that didn't put her mind at  
ease, but I found 'other ways' to keep her quiet until we fell asleep."  
  
Ranma simply raised a perturbed eyebrow at the old man's lecherous  
smile.  
  
"You really like gloating about fucking your own sister don't you, Old  
Man?"  
  
Katushito simply shrugged. "It's not every day that a man can say he  
likes 'sticking it' to his own sister without being labeled a social  
outcast."  
  
Ranma nodded at the truth of the statement. "I suppose that's true--'If  
you're not from butt-fuck Japan'--but speaking about one of your  
sisters," he continued. "You didn't tell me what you thought about  
Sasami's actions from this morning. What do you think that was all  
about?"  
  
Katushito lost his smile when he answered. "I had hoped you would  
forget about asking me that," he sighed. "I'm not totally sure what  
Sasami was thinking when she kissed you, but if I were to take an  
educated guess, I would think that she was in love with you."  
  
"You're shitting me, right?"  
  
The older man shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I believe that Sasami  
has developed strong feelings for you and that this morning she acted  
out on them."  
  
Ranma let the bottle in his hand slip from his grip and fall to the  
ground, spilling its liquid content, while his mind went into shock for  
the second time that day.  
  
"That's not possible," Ranma remarked.  
  
Katushito put a hand on his friend's shoulder and shook his head. "What  
you say and what might be are two different things. I might be wrong  
about my assessment of my sister, but I wouldn't make such a claim  
without some strong evidence."  
  
Ranma turned to face Katushito, searching for any deceit in the other  
man's face. Finding none, he listened in silence as the Shinto priest  
continued.  
  
"It's not just one little instance that has led me to believe this. I  
have had my suspicions about Sasami ever since she fully merged with  
Tsunami."  
  
Ranma interrupted. "Are you saying that Tsunami has taken over Sasami's  
mind?" There was almost a hopeful eagerness in his voice.  
  
"No, I don't think that's the case," Katushito remarked, shooting down  
Ranma's hopes. "Remember, Tsunami told us that when she and Sasami  
fully merge, then they would become one single entity. Sasami, Tsunami-  
-both would be the same. There is no reason for Tsunami to have lied to  
us."  
  
Katushito then added, "I believe that if our current Sasami loves you,  
it's because both the Goddess Tsunami and my sister have harbored these  
feelings towards you since before the merger. Perhaps their feelings  
were not as strong when the two were still separate personalities, but  
now that they have combined, I can only guess that they have blended in  
such a way that has made them fall in love with you."  
  
Ranma continued to remain silent, as Katushito began listing off his  
reasons for believing this hypothesis.  
  
"As I said before, I don't make such strong claims without equally  
convincing evidence. Since the merger between Sasami and Tsunami, I  
have noticed a few odd things about their behavior. Nothing  
particularly concrete or definitive to make me think that they were in  
love with you, but given what you have said this morning, all those  
little details I've been noticing are starting to make sense."  
  
"I'm not sure if you had noticed this or not, but I think you and Ryoko  
have kept a blind eye to the fact that when Sasami looks at you, she  
looks at you the same way Ryoko does. You know... the way that a  
schoolgirl might look at a boy whom she has a crush on. But more so  
than that."  
  
"What I mean is that it's that schoolgirl crush combined with the look  
of a grown woman who is sexually aware and has now set her sights on a  
man whom she wants to bed down with and marry. Sometimes I see the  
longing in my sister's eye. It's not always there, but when I see her  
looking at you and Ryoko, I had thought that maybe my little sister was  
just longing to find a man of her own. However, now I realize that she  
has already set her sights on a man, it's just that that man--you--is  
already taken."  
  
"Ranma? There are a host of other little things that I can go on about  
that all point to the same conclusion, but trust me when I say that its  
safe to assume that Sasami is in love with you. And if it's not love  
per say that she is feelings, it's at the very least a very-very strong  
romantic interest in you."  
  
Ranma turned to the man and nodded, still trying to cope with such an  
Earth shattering revelation. He still couldn't get past the idea of  
"his" little-Sasami as a sexual being, which on top of that, had sexual  
designs on him. It seemed almost vulgar to think about it, if at the  
very least taboo. However, if what Katushito was saying was true, Ranma  
knew that he was going to have to deal with this immediately. He only  
hoped that Ryoko would be as understanding about this revelation as he  
was.  
  
"Yosho?" Ranma was now using Katushito's formal name. This meant that  
he was being absolutely serious in his questioning. "What do you think  
I should do about Sasami?"  
  
Yosho nodded and began to pull on the imaginary whiskers on his chin  
that he would have had had he actually grown a beard. Looking very sage  
like, the crown prince dispensed the only bit of knowledge that he  
thought could save his little-sister some heartbreak, while not  
completely destroying the happy union of people whom he had come to call  
family.  
  
"I think Ranma, that you should marry her--" The rest of Yosho's  
sentence was cut off.  
  
Ranma took this advice and internally replied: 'Yeah, that might work,'  
he thought sarcastically. 'If Ryoko doesn't shoot my balls off first.'  
He then added out loud, "--Old Man, I asked you for advice. Not a death  
sentence. Give me something I can work with here."  
  
The "Old Man" merely reiterated his point. "That's correct, you asked  
for advice and I'm giving it to you. Now let me finish. I was about to  
add that I think you should marry her as well as Ryoko. The three of  
you would make a wonderful couple."  
  
Ranma turned to Yosho and looked at him with two narrowed brows. "Do  
you really think it's that simple!" he challenged. "Do you honestly  
believe that if I married them both, that all our problems would be  
solved, that the three of us would go on and live happily ever after? I  
mean... no offense, but I don't see how this could possibly work. I  
mean... even if Ryoko were to agree, and I highly doubt it, there is the  
fact that I myself don't have any sexual or romantic interests in Sasami  
at all.  
  
"I mean, it's Sasami!--she's still my little-girl, she's still my  
little-Sasami! She is NOT someone whom I'm going to go home to at night  
and crawl into bed with to do..." He then threw his arms up in  
exasperation. "Shit! I can't even fucking say it. But you get the  
picture."  
  
Yosho took Ranma's criticisms in stride. "I hear your complaints, but  
listen. First off, sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.  
Second, I never did say that all your problems would be solved. I just  
meant that if you could marry them both, and get it to work out, the  
three of you could potentially make a wonderful life together."  
  
"Third, about Ryoko, aside from the sex, the three of you do nearly  
everything else together. You go to the movies together, you do your  
shopping together, you spend all your free time together. You guys are  
practically a three-way couple already. And since, Ryoko and Sasami  
already think of each other as best friends and sisters, I don't think I  
could come up with two better people who could make a three-way marriage  
work."  
  
"So if it were anyone else besides those two, I would never suggest such  
a scheme, but because it's them I do believe it would be possible for  
Ryoko to willing go along with a co-marriage or relationship with you  
and Sasami. And in turn, Sasami has grown up all her life having two  
mothers who've shared the same husband. She would not think it the  
least bit abnormal for you to marry her alongside with Ryoko. In fact,  
I think she would be rather pleased with such a relationship because she  
would have the two people whom she loves the most closest to her."  
  
"And finally, while I can understand your initial apprehension about all  
of this, I don't want you to forget that you've been in this situation  
before. I still remember when you first came here with Benisato and  
Kagero. Do you still remember? If not, let me just refresh your  
memory."  
  
"I can still see it in my mind as if it were yesterday, the sight of you  
coming up those very steps with two young women in tow. Those two women  
I could tell had obvious feelings towards you, but you did not initially  
share them. But overtime however, while the three of you came to live  
here, neither woman pressed to try to claim you and as a result, the  
three of you developed a very strong and loyal friendship that  
eventually blossomed into mutual love. And this love in turn bloomed  
into marriage where you married both of them, did you not?"  
  
Ranma nodded the last part, beginning to see some of the logic of his  
old friend words.  
  
"And did you not love them both, even though at first you didn't?"  
  
Ranma nodded again.  
  
"And while Kagero and Benisato had their initial misgivings about the  
arrangement, were they not happy in the end because of it?"  
  
Again, Ranma nodded. Those two had been very happy throughout their  
marriage and he had often wondered how two seemingly different people,  
who initially met the other as their enemy, could put aside such  
differences to ultimately find true friendship and love in the other.  
His memory of the two often served as a key reminder of his hope in  
mankind, which he used to pull his spirits out of the brink whenever he  
had thought all hope was lost. And at the moment, it was a memory that  
still burned true to its purpose as Ranma relented under Yosho's brand  
of logic.  
  
"Ranma," Yosho said as he pumped the other's shoulder. "I know it's  
going to be hard for you to adjust to the idea of Sasami being in love  
with you. I know it's going to be hard to think of her as a grown  
woman, as a sexual being, but don't forget that it's going to be just as  
hard for Ryoko and Sasami."  
  
"If Ryoko agrees to share you, she's going to need your support. She  
needs to know that you still love her and don't think any less of her  
because she's willing to share you. Likewise, Sasami is going to need  
you there for her. She needs to know that you don't hate her."  
  
"I don't know what's exactly going on in Sasami's mind, but I can only  
imagine that she's probably feeling a deep sense of guilt and grief over  
her actions from this morning. While at the same time, I'm sure she's  
probably battling over her feelings towards you. If she's been in love  
with you for as long as I suspect, then what happened today was probably  
the culmination of six months of pent up jealousy, frustration, and lust  
that had no other outlet except to explode as it did."  
  
"Keep all that in mind when you talk to Ryoko and Sasami. And keep in  
mind that if you suggest to Ryoko that you should marry both of them,  
that Ryoko might not take the news lightly, but she'll do whatever you  
ask because she loves you. And because she loves you she'll forgive  
you, no matter what decision you make."  
  
In silence, Ranma nodded as he contemplated his choice of options. He  
knew that the next time he saw Ryoko or Sasami, he was going to have to  
make a decision.  
  
++++++++++  
  
To be continued...  
  
--- End of Chapter ---  
  
Please send C&C to allwhacked@hotmail.com and if you're going to  
criticize, please give reasons why. Thanks.  
  
[1] Light Hawk Wings - For those who are new to Tenchi Muyo, just know  
that the LHW are basically the ultimate manifestation of Juraian power  
and can be used as nearly indestructible energy shields or can convert  
energy into matter to form clothes, swords, etc. Anyway, its rumored  
that the energy of Jurai is the same energy within Ryoko's jewels and  
thus it has been hinted that when Ryoko has all three of her gems she  
could potentially conjure up 10 LHW, which only the battleship Tsunami  
can do.  
  
[2] Gi - A gi (pronounced gee) is basically the traditional uniforms  
worn by Karate, Ju-jitsu, and Aikido students. If you've watched the  
Ranma 1/2 anime, it's the clothing that Genma and Ranma wore when they  
first when to Jusenkyo.  
  
[3] Hakama - it looks like a divided skirt. In reality, it's more like  
long and wide-legged pants that are worn over a gi. If you have watched  
samurai movies or the Ruroni Kenshin anime, then it's the divided skirt  
thing that Kenshin wears. It's also the pants that Kuno wears, so think  
of that.  
  
[4] Boken - it's a long solid wood practice sword. It's the same wooden  
stick that kuno uses for Kendo practice.  
  
[5] Wa - Wa is a Japanese word for harmony.  
  
[6] That is the exact same thing my dad used to say to my mom, whenever  
my sisters or I didn't come home by curfew. Of course my dad's words  
didn't put my mom's mind at ease, but I think he's probably right and  
that there is no use worry about something you can't do anything about.  
So just wait till the cops call. 


End file.
